ArticleBMJ open2021
Surgical care in district hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Incidence and predictors of postoperative complications in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in health services · 2024Pooled it
- A Perioperative Quality Improvement Program for Cesarean Delivery in Ethiopia: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Availability and gaps in operating theatre structural resources for fracture fixation in Tanzania: a national cross-sectional analysis.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Surgical practice in a low-resource setting in an African context: a narrative review.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Review
- Exploring the burden of non-communicable diseases on surgical services in Africa: a comprehensive literature review.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Review
- Article
- Surgical Practice in Resource-Limited Settings: Perspectives of Medical Students and Early Career Doctors: A Narrative Review.Health science reports · 2025Article
- Global disparities in surgeons' workloads, academic engagement and rest periods: the on-calL shIft fOr geNEral SurgeonS (LIONESS) study.Updates in surgery · 2024Article
- A scoping review of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS), protocol implementation, and its impact on surgical outcomes and healthcare systems in Africa.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2024Article
- The Implementation of Simulation-Based Learning for Training Undergraduate Medical Students in Essential Surgical Care Across Sub-Saharan Africa: a Scoping Review.Medical science educator · 2024Article
- Identifying opportunities for global surgery in Cameroon: an analysis of existing health policies and events.The Pan African medical journal · 2024Review
- A national perspective on exposure to essential surgical procedures among medical trainees in Nigeria: a cross-sectional survey and recommendations.BMC medical education · 2023Article
- Article
- A cost-effectiveness analysis of surgical care delivery in Eastern Uganda-a societal perspective.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Regional anaesthesia practice in public hospitals in Botswana: A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2023Article
- Pattern of Surgical Emergencies in Rural Southwestern Nigeria.Journal of emergencies, trauma, and shockArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo provide a general overview of the reported current surgical capacity and delivery in order to advance current knowledge and suggest targets for further development and research within the region of sub-Saharan Africa.
designScoping review.
settingDistrict hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa. DATA SOURCES: PubMed and Ovid EMBASE from January 2000 to December 2019. STUDY SELECTION: Studies were included if they contained information about types of surgical procedures performed, number of operations per year, types of anaesthesia delivered, cadres of surgical/anaesthesia providers and/or patients' outcomes.
resultsThe 52 articles included in analysis provided information about 16 countries. District hospitals were a group of diverse institutions ranging from 21 to 371 beds. The three most frequently reported procedures were caesarean section, laparotomy and hernia repair, but a wide range of orthopaedics, plastic surgery and neurosurgery procedures were also mentioned. The number of operations performed per year per district hospital ranged from 239 to 5233. The most mentioned anaesthesia providers were non-physician clinicians trained in anaesthesia. They deliver mainly general and spinal anaesthesia. Depending on countries, articles referred to different surgical care providers: specialist surgeons, medical officers and non-physician clinicians. 15 articles reported perioperative complications among which surgical site infection was the most frequent. Fifteen articles reported perioperative deaths of which the leading causes were sepsis, haemorrhage and anaesthesia complications.
conclusionDistrict hospitals play a significant role in sub-Saharan Africa, providing both emergency and elective surgeries. Most procedures are done under general or spinal anaesthesia, often administered by non-physician clinicians. Depending on countries, surgical care may be provided by medical officers, specialist surgeons and/or non-physician clinicians. Research on safety, quality and volume of surgical and anaesthesia care in this setting is scarce, and more attention to these questions is required.
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Registered trials
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