Safe Surgery Saving Lives DRC

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This short film provides a snapshot of the project, "Developing Safe Surgery Practice in Kongo Central" - a collaboration between King's Global Health Partnerships (KGHP) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ministry of Health and the Division of Health in Kongo Central province.

The two-year initiative aimed to improve surgical outcomes for rural and urban communities in Kongo Central province by increasing the skills, confidence and surgical equipment available to healthcare workers (HCWs) and strengthening the generation and use of surgical data.

Worldwide, an estimated five billion people, lack access to safe, timely and affordable surgical and anaesthesia care. The barriers to accessing safe surgery include: the risk of financial catastrophe for patients, the lack of a trained healthcare workforce, poor infrastructure and equipment, and limited leadership to drive needed improvements.

Where we work in Kongo Central province, most of the population of 6 million people lack access to safe, timely and affordable surgery. For those patients who are able to access surgical, obstetric, trauma and anaesthesia (SOTA) care, peri-operative mortality and complications are high and outcomes are poor.

Over a two-year period, KGHP worked with ten district and tertiary healthcare facilities to train and mentor clinical staff in safe surgical practice, and support the purchase of surgical equipment. We also worked alongside the Provincial Ministry of Health to support surgical data collection, management and use.

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