ArticleThe Journal of surgical research2018
Electricity and generator availability in LMIC hospitals: improving access to safe surgery.
Article in The Journal of surgical research, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed.
- Availability and gaps in operating theatre structural resources for fracture fixation in Tanzania: a national cross-sectional analysis.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Reliable electricity to advance quality health care in low-resource settings.The Lancet. Global health · 2026Review
- Approaches, barriers, and facilitators to and strategies for normalizing the provision of ultrasound scanning by midwives in the antenatal clinic.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Applying artificial intelligence to cardiac MRI to diagnose congenital heart disease in low-resource settings such as Sub-Saharan Africa.Communications medicine · 2025Review
- Large language models and global health equity: a roadmap for equitable adoption in LMICs.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Review
- Artificial Intelligence in Medication Management for Older Adults in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Narrative Review.Aging medicine (Milton (N.S.W)) · 2025Review
- Assessing Internet Quality Across Public Health Centers in Indonesia: Cross-Sectional Evaluation Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2025Article
- Assistive Artificial Intelligence in Epilepsy and Its Impact on Epilepsy Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- The Future Hospital in Global Health Systems: The Future Hospital Within the Healthcare System.The International journal of health planning and management · 2025Review
- Global surgery and climate change: how global surgery can prioritise both the health of the planet and its people.BMC surgery · 2025Review
- Facility readiness for decentralized Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions-Plus (PEN-Plus) care in nine lower-income countries.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- First reported human use of wireless laparoscopic system: is it ready for prime time?Surgical endoscopy · 2024Article
- Enhancing Cranio-Maxillofacial Fracture Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- The utility of low-cost negative pressure wound therapy in Cameroon.The Pan African medical journal · 2024Article
- A Community-Based, Mobile Electronic Medical Record System App for High-Quality, Integrated Antiretroviral Therapy in Lilongwe, Malawi: Design Process and Pilot Implementation.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- The state of surgery, obstetrics, trauma, and anaesthesia care in Ghana: a narrative review.Global health action · 2022Review
- Artificial intelligence for strengthening healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic scoping review.NPJ digital medicine · 2022Article
- Climate change and emergency care in Africa: A scoping review.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2022Article
- 3D-printed activated charcoal inlet filters for oxygen concentrators: A circular economy approach.Development engineering · 2022Article
- The Lancet Commission on diagnostics: transforming access to diagnostics.Lancet (London, England) · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAccess to reliable energy has been identified as a global priority and codified within United Nations Sustainable Goal 7 and the Electrify Africa Act of 2015. Reliable hospital access to electricity is necessary to provide safe surgical care. The current state of electrical availability in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) throughout the world is not well known. This study aimed to review the surgical capacity literature and document the availability of electricity and generators.
methodsUsing Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, a systematic search for surgical capacity assessments in LMICs in MEDLINE, PubMed, and World Health Organization Global Health Library was performed. Data regarding electricity and generator availability were extracted. Estimated percentages for individual countries were calculated.
resultsOf 76 articles identified, 21 reported electricity availability, totaling 528 hospitals. Continuous electricity availability at hospitals providing surgical care was 312/528 (59.1%). Generator availability was 309/427 (72.4%). Estimated continuous electricity availability ranged from 0% (Sierra Leone and Malawi) to 100% (Iran); estimated generator availability was 14% (Somalia) to 97.6% (Iran).
conclusionsLess than two-thirds of hospitals providing surgical care in 21 LMICs have a continuous electricity source or have an available generator. Efforts are needed to improve electricity infrastructure at hospitals to assure safe surgical care. Future research should look at the effect of energy availability on surgical care and patient outcomes and novel methods of powering surgical equipment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.