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Challenge Works and our work in Global Surgery

 

 

Challenge Works first became involved in the global surgery space through research and design of the Surgical Equity Prize with well established leaders in global surgery and anaesthesia, LifeBox, G4 Alliance and WFSA. 

One third of human disease requires surgery, yet surgical inequity is not adequately recognised on the agendas of international institutions, ministries of health and finance, development agencies and bilateral, multilateral and private funders. 

The concept of the Surgical Equity Prize is to challenge the status quo and help lower the unacceptably high mortality and morbidity from common conditions needing surgery in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

There is  an urgent need to upskill personnel and develop more adapted low-cost surgical tools and better system design, support and services. For this project, we started exploring how open innovation and challenge methodology can be used to dramatically improve access to surgery and anaesthesia in LMICs. 

We are convinced that challenge prizes could form part of a broader campaign to raise awareness, leverage knowledge and expertise, and harness the requisite technical and financial resources.

We looked into designing challenge prizes in two main areas that we believed would bring the most promising/feasible prize ideas:

  • Products: stimulate innovation to adapt existing products and incentivise new technologies/products to increase access to and improve the quality of surgery and anaesthesia in LMICs. 
  • Services: incentivise the creation of new surgery support services and processes to implement proven strategies and best practices in surgery and anaesthesia. 

 

To kick-start the design of challenge initiatives improving surgical equity across the globe we brought together experts and key stakeholders in the surgical space at the Challenges of Our Era Summit that was held in Milan on 6-7 March 2018.

Our Partners

Guiding us on our initial work in the global surgical equity space were three key partners and many more organisations who we have gone on to work with us as part of the Global Surgical Training Challenge. 

 

Lifebox

An international non-profit working to make surgery and anesthesia safer on a global scale. Lifebox invests in tools, training, and partnerships for safe surgery, for every patient, every time.

 

G4 Alliance

The G4 Alliance exists to increase global political priority for surgical and anaesthesia care. The G4 Alliance also works to mobilize resources to help provide access to safe surgical care for patients in need. 

 

World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA)

The WFSA is the foremost global alliance of anaesthesiologists, the specialist physicians dedicated to the total care of the patient before, during and after surgery. The WFSA’s mission is to unite anaesthesiologists around the world to improve patient care and access to safe anaesthesia and perioperative medicine.

Surgery Prize Design Steering Committee

Supporting Challenge Works and our partners in the research and design of the Surgical Equity Prize, was a steering committee representing our partners and other global surgery experts. 

The Surgical Equity Prize has not yet been funded, however, Challenge Works is grateful to partners and Steering Committee members for welcoming us into the global surgery space and for educating us on needs and strategies for change.  This initial work provided Challenge Works with an understanding of the Global Surgery space and has enabled us to be effective co-leaders of the Global Surgical Training Challenge. 

Further Reading