New York Times: Surgery: The Neglected Stepchild of Global Health
Emily Bruno, medical student at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and global surgery research associate with Harvard Medical School, and Mark G. Shrime, research director for the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change at Harvard Medical School and instructor at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

“… [The people] who die annually because they can’t access surgery are casualties of systemic failure. Surgery has remained the neglected stepchild of global health because fixing systemic failures is daunting. Solutions, however, do exist. It’s simply impossible to address health needs around the world without providing surgical services, and doing so can be just as cost-effective as other global health interventions. Last year, The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery released a template for Ministries of Health to use in drafting National Surgical Plans, with the goal of incorporating surgery into a country’s national health framework. … [I]f the world wants to meet the health goals it has set for itself, surgery can no longer be the stepchild. We need to start a new conversation, with surgery at the center” (4/20).