BackgroundSurgical site infections (SSI) are a significant cause of post-surgical morbidity and mortality and can be an indicator of surgical quality. The objectives of this study were to measure post-operative SSI after cesarean section (CS) at four sites in three sub-Saharan African countries and to describe the associated risk factors in order to improved quality of care in low and middle income surgical programs.MethodsThis study included data from four emergency obstetric programs supported by Medecins sans Frontieres, from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Sierra Leone. Women undergoing from August 1 2010 to January 31 2011 were included. CS post-operative SSI data were prospectively collected. Logistic regression was used to model SSI risk factors.FindingsIn total, 1,276 women underwent CS. The incidence of SSI was 7.3 % (range 1.7–10.4 %). 93 % of SSI were superficial. The median length of stay of women without SSI was 7 days (range 3–63 days) compared to 21 days (range 5–51 days) in those with SSI (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, younger age, premature rupture of the membranes, and neonatal death were associated with an increased risk of SSI, while antenatal hemorrhage and the Lubutu, DRC project site were associated with a lower risk of developing an SSI.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that surgery can be performed with a low incidence of SSI, a proxy for surgical safety, in sub-Saharan Africa. Protocols such as perioperative antibiotics and basic infrastructure such as clean water and sterilization can be achieved. Simple data collection tools will assist policymakers with monitoring and evaluation as well as quality control assurance of surgical programs in low and middle income countries.

LMICs face many surgical challenges that require innovation. Laparoscopic surgery may be safe, effective, feasible, and cost-effective in LMICs, although it often remains limited in its accessibility, acceptability, and quality. This study may not capture articles written in languages other than English or in journals not indexed by the included databases. Surgeons, policymakers, and manufacturers should focus on plans for sustainability, training and retention of providers, and regulation of efforts to develop laparoscopy in LMICs.

Global cleft surgery missions have provided much-needed care to millions of poor patients worldwide. Still, surgical capacity in low- and middle-income countries is generally inadequate. Through surgical missions, global cleft care has largely ascribed to a vertical model of healthcare delivery, which is disease specific, and tends to deliver services parallel to, but not necessarily within, the local healthcare system. The vertical model has been used to address infectious diseases as well as humanitarian emergencies. By contrast, a horizontal model for healthcare delivery tends to focus on long-term investments in public health infrastructure and human capital and has less often been implemented by humanitarian groups for a variety of reasons. As surgical care is an integral component of basic healthcare, the plastic surgery community must challenge itself to address the burden of specific disease entities, such as cleft lip and palate, in a way that sustainably expands and enriches global surgical care as a whole. In this paper, we describe a diagonal care delivery model, whereby cleft missions can enrich surgical capacity through integration into sustainable, local care delivery systems. Furthermore, we examine the applications of diagonal development to cleft care specifically and global surgical care more broadly.