The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery as a global health educational framework

Abstract

Training the next generation of leaders in global surgery includes equipping learners with skills in collaboration, research, policy, and health system management. Since 2021, the Duke Global Health Institute and the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda have co-taught a course in Global Surgical Care for learners from around the world. This review discusses our use of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery (LCoGS), exploring it as both a foundational reference text and an organizing framework for teaching core issues in global surgical care. The LCoGS guides the selection of important topics including surgical disease burden, infrastructure, workforce, and economics. Through the semester, students use these concepts in team-based applications, culminating in the development of a National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anaesthesia Plan (NSOAP) for an assigned country. The LCoGS provides a valuable foundation for teaching global surgical priorities and analytic approaches and provides guidance to support advocacy, ethics, and contextualized implementation initiatives for training emerging global surgical leaders.