title: Surgical Non-governmental Organizations: Global Surgery's Unknown Nonprofit Sector.
abstract: Charitable organizations may play a significant role in the delivery of surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, in order to quantify their collective contribution, to account for the care they provide in national surgical plans, and to maximize coordination between organizations, a comprehensive database of these groups is required. We aimed to create such a database using web-available data.
  
  
  
  We searched for organizations that meet the United Nations Rule of Law definition of non-governmental organizations and provide surgery in LMICs. We termed these surgical non-governmental organizations (s-NGOs). We screened multiple sources including a listing of disaster relief organizations, medical volunteerism databases, charity commissions, and the results of a literature search. We performed a secondary review of each eligible organization's website to verify inclusion criteria and extracted data.
  
  
  
  We found 403 s-NGOs providing surgery in all 139 LMICs, with most (61 %) incorporating surgery into a broader spectrum of health services. Over 80 % of s-NGOs had an office in the USA, the UK, Canada, India, or Australia, and they most commonly provided surgery in India (87 s-NGOs), Haiti (71), Kenya (60), and Ethiopia (55). The most common specialties provided were general surgery (184), obstetrics and gynecology (140), and plastic surgery (116).
  
  
  
  This new catalog includes the largest number of s-NGOs to date, but this is likely to be incomplete. This list will be made publicly available to promote collaboration between s-NGOs, national health systems, and global health policymakers.
authors.affiliation: Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, 641 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. Josh.ng@mail.harvard.edu.|Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Josh.ng@mail.harvard.edu.|Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. Josh.ng@mail.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Joshua S
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9335-2061
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ng-Kamstra
authors.affiliation: Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, 641 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.|Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.|Harvard Plastic Surgery Combined Residency Program, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Johanna N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Riesel
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Sumedha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arya
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Brad
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.|Affiliated Staff Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Tino
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kreutzer
authors.affiliation: Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, 641 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.|Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Meara
authors.affiliation: Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, 641 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.|Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.|Department of Otology and Laryngology and Office of Global Surgery, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Mark G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Shrime
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003906:Developing Countries; D013502:General Surgery / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D009938:Organizations / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011203:Poverty