Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Background: Global surgery (GS) is an effort to ensure that everyone in need of surgery has equitable access to timely, affordable, and high-quality surgical care. While equity and ethics are fundamental tenets of GS that are crucial in resolving systematic injustices, academic training frequently pays little attention to ethical issues. This paper is written to identify and provide an overview of implementation challenges of ethical principles, advocate for, and propose a standardized GS ethics course framework. Methods: We used a deliberative consensus-building approach that followed an immersive session in ethics in GS. There were nine participants during the deliberation who represented diverse Sub-Saharan countries. A process evaluation framework was used to thoroughly evaluate the deliberation process and ensure consistency of findings with discussions. Result: The deliberative consensus-building approach identified four main themes that represent key difficulties in the application of ethical standards in global surgery. These include (1) donation of medical equipment, (2) short-term medical missions, (3) collaborative research, and (4) special circumstances that involve humanitarian assistance. We suggest a standardized global surgery ethics course framework that incorporates theoretical frameworks, real-world problems, and useful tools for making decisions to solve these issues. Discussion: The results of this study identified four main challenges in ethical global surgery practice. The authors believe that a structured discussion around these crucial challenges in the field of GS will yield a more organized and shared approach to the challenges. The proposed curricula will enable healthcare professionals, legislators, and organizations to uphold ethical principles in GS practice and education. It offers a framework to direct future GS programs and seeks to promote inclusive discourse, enhance equity in care, and guarantee ethical decision-making.
Source: Journal of Global Surgery (ONE)
DOI: 10.52648/jogs.1235
Language: English
Topic: Global Health and Surgery
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7125653763