Mercy Ships and Operation Smile co-hosted side event at the 77th World Health Assembly

Please register on:

https://mercyships.ch/en/2024-world-health-assembly-side-event/

The reason why

5 billion people do not have access to safe, timely, and affordable surgical and anesthesia care when needed and over 100 million additional surgical procedures are needed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) each year to save lives and prevent disability.

These figures clearly demonstrate that acting alone through direct medical services is not sufficient to fill the overwhelming need for surgical and anesthesia care in low-resource settings, but will also require education, training, and advocacy.

The NGOs Operation Smile and Mercy Ships are co-organizing this World Health Assembly (WHA) side event in order to raise the voices of healthcare specialists from LMICs as well as to amplify synergies between diverse actors to improve access to safe Surgical, Obstetric, and Anesthesia care around the world.

Developing Education and Training activities will offer greatly needed improvements; but efforts to mobilize governments, multi-lateral international organizations, professional societies, aligned NGOs, and academia to remedy this dire situation through collective action can be a decisive factor.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Geneva and virtually.

Check the speakers on line, and a networking reception will follow the panel discussion.

30 May 2024 at 17:00 CEST Salon Impératrice, Hotel Beau-Rivage, Geneva, Switzerland & Livestream