TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying knowledge needed to improve surgical care in Southern-Africa using a theory of change approach
AU - D'Ambruoso, Lucia
AU - Odland, Maria Lisa
AU - Breedt, Danyca Shadé
AU - Bakanisi, Balisi
AU - Clune, Edward
AU - Makgasa, Moneimang
AU - Tarpley, John
AU - Tarpley, Margaret
AU - Munyika, Akutu
AU - Sheehama, Jacob
AU - Shivera, Theresia
AU - Biccard, Bruce M
AU - Boden, Regan
AU - Chetty, Sean
AU - de Waard, Liesel
AU - Duys, Rowan
AU - Groeneveld, Kristin
AU - Levine, Susan
AU - Mac Quene, Tamlyn
AU - Maswime, Salome
AU - Naidoo, Megan
AU - Naidoo, Priyanka
AU - Peters, Shrikant
AU - Reddy, Ché L
AU - Verhage, Savannah
AU - Muguti, Godfrey
AU - Nyaguse, Shingai
AU - Chu, Kathryn
AU - Davies, Justine
N1 - Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge all the individuals who participated in the theory of change workshop.
Funding
Funding for the workshop was provided by the UK Academy of Medical
Sciences, Global Challenges Research Fund Networking Grant. The funding did not
include any studies or papers that were based on the workshop findings.
PY - 2021/6/15
Y1 - 2021/6/15
N2 - Surgical healthcare has been prioritised in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional intergovernmental entity promoting equitable and sustainable economic growth and socioeconomic development. However, challenges remain in translating political prioritisation into effective and equitable surgical healthcare. The AfroSurg Collaborative (AfroSurg) includes clinicians, public health professionals and social scientists from six SADC countries; it was created to identify context-specific, critical areas where research is needed to inform evidence-grounded policy and implementation. In January 2020, 38 AfroSurg members participated in a theory of change (ToC) workshop to agree on a vision: ‘An African-led, regional network to enable evidence-based, context-specific, safe surgical care, which is accessible, timely, and affordable for all, capturing the spirit of Ubuntu[1]’ and to identify necessary policy and service-delivery knowledge needs to achieve this vision. A unified ToC map was created, and a Delphi survey was conducted to rank the top five priority knowledge needs. In total, 45 knowledge needs were identified; the top five priority areas included (1) mapping of available surgical services, resources and providers; (2) quantifying the burden of surgical disease; (3) identifying the appropriate number of trainees; (4) identifying the type of information that should be collected to inform service planning; and (5) identifying effective strategies that encourage geographical retention of practitioners. Of the top five knowledge needs, four were policy-related, suggesting a dearth of much-needed information to develop regional, evidenced-based surgical policies. The findings from this workshop provide a roadmap to drive locally led research and create a collaborative network for implementing research and interventions. This process could inform discussions in other low-resource settings and enable more evidenced-based surgical policy and service delivery across the SADC countries and beyond.
AB - Surgical healthcare has been prioritised in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional intergovernmental entity promoting equitable and sustainable economic growth and socioeconomic development. However, challenges remain in translating political prioritisation into effective and equitable surgical healthcare. The AfroSurg Collaborative (AfroSurg) includes clinicians, public health professionals and social scientists from six SADC countries; it was created to identify context-specific, critical areas where research is needed to inform evidence-grounded policy and implementation. In January 2020, 38 AfroSurg members participated in a theory of change (ToC) workshop to agree on a vision: ‘An African-led, regional network to enable evidence-based, context-specific, safe surgical care, which is accessible, timely, and affordable for all, capturing the spirit of Ubuntu[1]’ and to identify necessary policy and service-delivery knowledge needs to achieve this vision. A unified ToC map was created, and a Delphi survey was conducted to rank the top five priority knowledge needs. In total, 45 knowledge needs were identified; the top five priority areas included (1) mapping of available surgical services, resources and providers; (2) quantifying the burden of surgical disease; (3) identifying the appropriate number of trainees; (4) identifying the type of information that should be collected to inform service planning; and (5) identifying effective strategies that encourage geographical retention of practitioners. Of the top five knowledge needs, four were policy-related, suggesting a dearth of much-needed information to develop regional, evidenced-based surgical policies. The findings from this workshop provide a roadmap to drive locally led research and create a collaborative network for implementing research and interventions. This process could inform discussions in other low-resource settings and enable more evidenced-based surgical policy and service delivery across the SADC countries and beyond.
U2 - 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005629
DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005629
M3 - Article
SN - 2059-7908
VL - 6
JO - BMJ Global Health
JF - BMJ Global Health
IS - 6
M1 - e005629
ER -