The global burden of disease amenable to surgical intervention, such as trauma, cancer, and complications from childbirth, is substantial and growing. Despite this, there are currently gross disparities in access to safe surgical care worldwide. Surgery is an integral, indivisible component of a properly functioning health system, and all people should have access to safe, high-quality surgical and anesthesia care with financial protection when needed. The purpose of The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery is to make this vision a reality by embedding surgery within the global health agenda, catalysing political change, and defining scalable solutions for provision of quality surgical and anesthesia care for all.

See Commission for a full Executive Summary.