Building Anesthesia Capacity in the Developing World

Abstract

Over two-thirds of the world's population do not have access to safe surgical and anesthetic care. Barriers to care include a lack of specialty trained personnel and unavailability of essential operating room resources. Aid efforts with the greatest impact focus on forming partnerships between high- and low-income communities, with the goal of creating self-sustaining programs run by local communities. Together these partnerships can work to build local capacity and expand the trained workforce by educating local providers.

Keywords: Anesthesia capacity building; Global anesthesia; Global health equity.