PubMed · 12309633
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F R Sagasti. 1979. Knowledge is power.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12309633/
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BACKGROUND: Surgical care is essential for achieving global health equity, yet low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face major gaps in access and planning, partly due to limited evidence on the costs and resource requirements of surgical interventions. Understanding these costs is vital for designing efficient and equitable health systems. METHODS: We conducted a systematic literature review (covering MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, EconLit and grey literature) to identify studies reporting the costs of surgeries in LMICs from January 2000 to June 2023. Minor and major surgical procedures were considered, focusing on therapeutic procedures (excluding diagnostic interventions). Studies that clearly identified, quantified and costed hospital resources and services deployed in the provision of surgical care, and included at least two of the surgical production factors (ie, consumables, diagnostics, personnel, infrastructure and overhead) in the costing were included. Costs were standardised to 2023 International dollars (I$) for comparability. RESULTS: A total of 74 studies from 29 countries met the inclusion criteria, with 210 cost estimates across 65 procedure groups. Costs varied widely: from I$1.54 for a caesarean section in Tanzania to I$618 098 for paediatric cataract surgery in Zambia. Full costing studies reported higher estimates than partial costing studies. Most studies (60%) originated from upper-middle-income countries, with limited data (10%) from low-income settings. CONCLUSION: This review provides a reference list of surgical procedure costs across LMICs, highlighting considerable cost variation by procedure, specialty and country. The findings underscore the need for better-quality, standardised cost data-especially from low-income countries-to inform national surgical plans, universal health coverage benefit packages and reimbursement policies.
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Access to basic health services was affirmed as a fundamental human right in the Declaration of Alma-Ata in 1978. The model formally adopted for providing healthcare services was "primary health care" (PHC), which involved universal, community-based preventive and curative services, with substantial community involvement. PHC did not achieve its goals for several reasons, including the refusal of experts and politicians in developed countries to accept the principle that communities should plan and implement their own healthcare services. Changes in economic philosophy led to the replacement of PHC by "Health Sector Reform", based on market forces and the economic benefits of better health. It is time to abandon economic ideology and determine the methods that will provide access to basic healthcare services for all people.