The Burden of Surgical Disease Working Group.

Premature disability and death (burden) from delayed or unavailable surgical intervention in low and middle countries is a global public health crisis.  Many countries lack surgical infrastructure, personnel and resources which are necessary to provide life saving procedures such as emergency Cesarean Sections for child birth, and other cost effective and sustainable surgeries for trauma, birth defects, cancer, cataracts and other conditions related to child birth.  The Burden of Surgical Disease Working Group (BoSD WG) was founded in 2007 to advocate for surgical intervention with global public health, advance knowledge about the large unmet surgical need, and expand the literature on this growing crisis. 

This group of surgeons, anesthesiologists, obstetricians, public health and metric specialists, economists, and humanitarians meets annually to discuss the ongoing work of the group and to advance the agenda of surgery within global health.  Participants from the University of Washington, Harvard University, UCSF, University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins University, the World Health Organization, the Global Burden of Disease Project, and many respected non-governmental organizations including Operation Smile, Operation Giving Back, Doctors WIthout Borders, Interplast participate in the ongoing work of this growing group.  Our inaugural meeting was hosted by the University of Washington and supported by Operation Smile in April 2008 (see events tab for description, agenda and bibliography.)  The 2nd annual BoSD WG meeting was hosted by the American College of Surgeons in May 2009 (see events tab for agenda and bibliography.)  A symposium of the meeting will be published in the World Journal of Surgery later this year.  Planning for a BoSD WG meeting in 2010 is underway.

To join the Burden of Surgical Disease Working Group please send an email to bosdworkinggroup@gmail.com or contact Dr. Kelly McQueen at kamcqueen@gmail.com.  We welcome your participation and hope to see you at a future meeting!  Stay tuned to this website for updates on upcoming events, member contacts and new publications.

Burden of Surgical Disease Bibliography 2009

Doctors Without Borders doctorswithoutborders.org

American Society of Anesthesiology  asahq.org

American College of Surgeons  www.facs.org

Harvard Humanitarian Initiative   www.hhi.harvard.edu

Brigham and Womans Center for Surgery and Public Health  http://www.brighamandwomens.org