ReviewGlobal health action2022
The state of surgery, obstetrics, trauma, and anaesthesia care in Ghana: a narrative review.
Review in Global health action, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global Perspectives in Plastic Surgery: View of Plastic Surgeons From Ghana.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- Spatio-temporal patterns of health service delivery and access to maternal, child, and outpatient healthcare in Volta region, Ghana: a repeated cross-sectional ecological study using health facility data.Global health action · 2025Article
- Assessment of surgical capacity and productivity in high-volume Ethiopian hospitals: mixed method study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Exploring the concept of surgical transition: surgical activity in the light of economic development in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and India.Frontiers in surgery · 2025Article
- Integrating political prioritisation into national surgical planning: a scoping review of surgical, obstetric and anaesthesia care in Cameroon.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- Experiences of injured patients referred to higher levels of care after initial assessment and management at non-tertiary hospitals in Ghana.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2024Article
- Identifying opportunities for global surgery in Cameroon: an analysis of existing health policies and events.The Pan African medical journal · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundConditions amenable to surgical, obstetric, trauma, and anaesthesia (SOTA) care are a major contributor to death and disability in Ghana. SOTA care is an essential component of a well-functioning health system, and better understanding of the state of SOTA care in Ghana is necessary to design policies to address gaps in SOTA care delivery.
objectiveThe aim of this study is to assess the current situation of SOTA care in Ghana.
methodsA situation analysis was conducted as a narrative review of published scientific literature. Information was extracted from studies according to five health system domains related to SOTA care: service delivery, workforce, infrastructure, finance, and information management.
resultsGhanaians face numerous barriers to accessing quality SOTA care, primarily due to health system inadequacies. Over 77% of surgical operations performed in Ghana are essential procedures, most of which are performed at district-level hospitals that do not have consistent access to imaging and operative room fundamentals. Tertiary facilities have consistent access to these modalities but lack consistent access to oxygen and/or oxygen concentrators on-site as well as surgical supplies and anaesthetic medicines. Ghanaian patients cover up to 91% of direct SOTA costs out-of-pocket, while health insurance only covers up to 14% of the costs. The Ghanaian surgical system also faces severe workforce inadequacies especially in district-level facilities. Most specialty surgeons are concentrated in urban areas. Ghana's health system lacks a solid information management foundation as it does not have centralized SOTA databases, leading to incomplete, poorly coded, and illegible patient information.
conclusionThis review establishes that surgical services provided in Ghana are focused primarily on district-level facilities that lack adequate infrastructure and face workforce shortages, among other challenges. A comprehensive scale-up of Ghana's surgical infrastructure, workforce, national insurance plan, and information systems is warranted to improve Ghana's surgical system.
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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.