ArticleBMJ open2021
Global and regional overview of the inclusion of paediatric surgery in the national health plans of 124 countries: an ecological study.
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 18 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Development of paediatric surgical care in Sierra Leone: a repeated nationwide cross-sectional study from 2012 to 2023.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Day-to-Day Risk and Resilience Factors in the Context of Pediatric Post-Surgical Recovery - A Network Analysis of Intensive Longitudinal Data From Adolescents Undergoing Spinal Fusion Surgery and Their Parents.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- GAPS Phase III: incorporation of capacity based weighting in the global assessment for pediatric surgery.Pediatric surgery international · 2024Article
- Universal coverage for oral health care in 27 low-income countries: a scoping review.Global health research and policy · 2024Article
- A review of twenty-first century developments in paediatric surgery in Africa.Pediatric surgery international · 2024Review
- Increasing access to pediatric surgical care: Assessing district hospital readiness in rural Rwanda.World journal of surgery · 2024Article
- Prioritization of Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma, and Anesthesia Care in South and Southeast Asian Countries' Health Planning and Policy‑making: SOTA Care Policies in South and Southeast Asia.Annals of global health · 2024Article
- Modeling the global impact of reducing out-of-pocket costs for children's surgical care.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- An analysis of the inclusion of ear and hearing care in national health policies, strategies and plans.Health policy and planning · 2023Article
- Prevalence and outcomes of pediatric surgical conditions at Connaught Hospital in Freetown: a retrospective study.World journal of pediatric surgery · 2023Article
- Delays in care for hydrocephalus and spina bifida at a tertiary hospital in Somaliland.World journal of pediatric surgery · 2023Article
- Patterns, procedures, and indications for pediatric surgery in a Tanzanian Refugee Camp: a 20-year experience.World journal of pediatric surgery · 2023Article
- Building back better children's surgical services toward universal health coverage: Perspectives from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Prioritization of surgical, obstetric, trauma, and anesthesia care in India over seven decades: A systematic analysis of policy documents.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Prevalence of pediatric surgical problems among east African refugees: estimates from a cross-sectional survey using random cluster sampling.BMC pediatrics · 2022Article
- Do health policies address the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of human resources for health? Analysis over three decades of National Health Policy of India.Human resources for health · 2021Article
- Systematic Review of the Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Congenital Anomalies: A Global and Regional Review Protocol.Sage open pediatricsReview
- The Global Burden of Major Gastrointestinal Anomalies: A Global, Systematic Review of Gastrointestinal Anomaly Birth Prevalence.Sage open pediatricsReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study evaluates the priority given to surgical care for children within national health policies, strategies and plans (NHPSPs). PARTICIPANTS AND
settingWe reviewed the NHPSPs available in the WHO's Country Planning Cycle Database. Countries with NHPSPs in languages different from English, Spanish, French or Chinese were excluded. A total of 124 countries met the inclusion criteria. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: We searched for child-specific and surgery-specific terms in the NHPSPs' missions, goals and strategies using three analytic approaches: (1) count of the total number of mentions, (2) count of the number of policies with no mentions and (3) count of the number of policies with five or more mentions. Outcomes were compared across WHO regional and World Bank income-level classifications.
resultsWe found that the most frequently mentioned terms were 'child*', 'infant*' and 'immuniz*'. The most frequently mentioned surgery term was 'surg*'. Overall, 45% of NHPSPs discussed surgery and 7% discussed children's surgery. The majority (93%) of countries did not mention selected essential and cost-effective children's procedures. When stratified by WHO region and World Bank income level, the West Pacific region led the inclusion of 'pediatric surgery' in national health plans, with 17% of its countries mentioning this term. Likewise, low-income countries led the inclusion of surg* and 'pediatric surgery', with 63% and 11% of countries mentioning these terms, respectively. In both stratifications, paediatric surgery only equated to less than 1% of the total terms.
conclusionThe low prevalence of children's surgical search terms in NHPSPs indicates that the influence of surgical care for this population remains low in the majority of countries. Increased awareness of children's surgical needs in national health plans might constitute a critical step to scale up surgical system in these countries.
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