title: Developing priorities for addressing surgical conditions globally: furthering the link between surgery and public health policy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Efforts to promote wider access to surgical services globally would be aided by developing consensus among clinicians, the public health policy community, and other stakeholders as to which surgical conditions warrant the most focused attention and investment. This would add value to other, ongoing efforts, especially in helping to define unmet need and effective coverage.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this concept paper, we introduce preliminary ideas on how priorities for surgical care could be better defined, especially as regards the interface between the surgical and public health worlds. Factors that would come into play in this process include the public health burden of the condition and the successfulness and feasibility of the procedures to treat those conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The implications of the prioritization process are that those conditions with the highest public health burden and that have procedures that are highly successful and feasible to promote globally, including in the most resource-constrained environments, should be the main focus of national and international efforts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability, World Health Organization, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland. mockc@who.int
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mock
authors.forename: Meena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cherian
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Juillard
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Donkor
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bickler
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jamison
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McQueen
mesh_terms: D003210:Concept Formation; D014943:Global Health; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D009626:Terminology as Topic