Seventeenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

There are 5 billion people on earth who do not have access to surgical care. This deficiency results in as many as 8 million deaths annually that could have been prevented by an operation. Linking high and low-resourced areas utilizing recently developed communication technology can extend surgical services globally with the result of improved and saved lives. To test this concept a surgical center was build in a rural village in eastern Uganda (Kyabirwa). This center was linked to experienced surgeons in New York via high-speed internet technology which permitted tele-mentoring and proctoring of surgical procedures. Such an approach allows durable information transfer of medical and surgical knowledge on a global scale.