Abstract (english) | The gap between HICs and LMICs in the capability of fulfilling the surgical needs of their population has been fully recognized and quantified in a recent Lancet Commission on Global Surgery (Meara et al., 2015). As regards Neurosurgery specifically, approximately five million people annually are estimated to be left untreated in LMICs for essential neurosurgical conditions that would elsewhere undergo surgical intervention (Dewan et al., 2018). The acquisition of awareness that surgical treatments, including neurosurgical, are an “indivisible and indispensable” component of health, is leading to a series of initiatives aiming to reduce these gaps amongst the different realities (Farmer and Kim, 2008; Johnson, 2013; Ozgediz et al., 2005; J. K; World Health Organization, 2015).
Global Neurosurgery, with its primary purpose of “ensuring timely, safe and affordable neurosurgical care to all who need it” well fits in this so-called “the surgery spring” (Mullan, 2015; Rosseau et al., 2020). Global Neurosurgery initiatives have now broadened their spectrum of action from the initial pioneering surgical camps to provide free surgical care to those in need, which maintain an essential role. These initiatives now include a series of clinical, research and educational activities that go beyond “surgery” strictly speaking. These are represented by, but are not limited to, providing education to local actors, addressing specific issues within the health systems, and developing visiting residencies or fellowships for bilateral neurosurgical transfer of knowledge and competencies (Haglund and Fuller, 2019).
The EANS is a vibrant community that shares the values expressed in the preamble of the Constitution of the World Health Organization which states that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition” (Constitution of the World Health Organization, 1946). Keeping this in mind, the EANS is making all possible efforts to put Global Neurosurgery initiatives amongst the priorities of its agenda. With the commencement of its term of Office in October 2021, the 2021–2023 Board of the EANS, as one of its first actions, approved the formation of a Global and Humanitarian Neurosurgery Committee.
With the aim to better explore energies, efforts and resources, the EANS conducted this survey, with the specific purpose to map awareness, interest and barriers for Global Neurosurgery development amongst its members. |