A paediatric surgical camp held in Mutate, Zimbabwe, last month saw more than 100 children undergo surgery.
The five-day camp, which was free, took place in Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare – Zimbabwe's third most populous city.
The project directly follows the launch of Zimbabwe's first ever National Surgical Obstetric and Anaesthesia Strategy (NSOAS).
Like many other parts of the country, Mutare faces various challenges surrounding access to healthcare.
This camp, which focused on hernia surgery, offered huge relief for many families who had been waiting years to receive this care.
Leading the camp was paediatric surgeon Dr Precious Mutambanengwe.
She told Scottish charity Kids Operating Room, which was involved in the development of the strategy: “We have a huge surgical backlog – especially for children with hernias.
“We have over 1,000, and more keep getting added monthly. We are desperate to cut down this waiting list. This is the first one camp focussed on paediatric hernia cases.”
Paediatric surgery in Zimbabwe shares similar challenges with many other African countries.
Among them, a shortage of specialised paediatric surgeons, limited resources, and inadequate infrastructure.
These issues contribute to a high burden of paediatric surgical conditions, a high rate of disease and a high rate of deaths among children who require surgical intervention.
To provide timely, affordable, safe and quality surgical services, the Government of Zimbabwe in September 2022 launched its first five-year plan of the National Surgical, Obstetric and Anaesthesia Strategy (NSOAS).
The strategy aims to promote access to surgical services to district level, a positive move towards strengthening primary health care where 83 per cent of surgical operations in the country happening at national and provincial hospitals.
Additionally, the strategy purposes to address both infrastructure and equipment-related gaps.
Dr Mutambanengwe acknowledged that the NSOAS is set to bring to paediatric surgery in the country – with this surgical camp being just the beginning.
She said: “There has been acknowledgement of the huge need in children for conditions like hernias and tonsillectomies.
“Most facilities lack infrastructure to cater for children and the specialists to carry out the operations.
“NSOAS was key in recruiting donors and partners and is the main reason it was possible to host this camp.”
The five-year strategy has several key components intended to guide the development and implementation of policies and programs related to surgical, obstetric and anaesthesia care.
Zimbabwe was the fifth country in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region and ninth in Africa to develop and launch its NSOAS.
However, it was the first country in Southern Africa to specifically single out paediatric surgery interventions in a national health strategy document.
This follows the World Health Assembly 68.15 resolution which recognised the central role of surgery and anaesthesia care in achieving Universal Health Coverage.
The strategy is aligned with Zimbabwe's national health policies and plans, and with global initiatives to improve surgical, obstetric, and anaesthesia care in low- and middle-income countries.
