ABSI at the 77th World Health Assembly

November 2024 by Ms. Sara Venturini

About the Author: Ms. Sara Venturini

Ms. Sara Venturini is a NIHR Clinical Research Fellow within the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Acquired Brain and Spin Injury, and a Specialist Registrar in Neurosurgery at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

What is the World Health Assembly (WHA)? The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the World Health Organisation’s decision-making body, this is a forum through which member states of the WHO set key health policies and priorities on a global level. It meets annually to decide on high-level policy and approve the WHO’s yearly work programme.

ABSI at the 77th WHA – May 2024 The 77th World Health Assembly took place in Geneva at the end of May 2024. A delegation of members of the ABSI group attended, joining several l satellite events pertaining to advocating for and advancing global surgical care. The ABSI delegation consisted of a team from Cambridge: Prof Peter Hutchinson (group lead), Miss Sara Venturini, Dr Tommi Kohnonen, and collabroators from Pakistan: Prof Tariq Khan and Dr Almas Khattak.

What surgical events took place at the 77th WHA? Several events focussed on surgical care strengthening and advocacy took place.

G4 Alliance Firstly, the G4 Alliance (link: https://theg4alliance.org/) held their meeting. The Alliance is a global coalition of associations and organisations working towards increasing awareness, advocating, shaping policy and mobilising resources to ensure that everyone has access to essential surgical, obstetric, trauma and anaesthesia (SOTA) care whenever needed across all corners of the world. Importantly, Prof Hutchinson, lead of the ABSI group and president of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons represented the SBNS as they join the G4 Alliance as a member organisation. The G4 welcomed the SBNS to their coalition, and the SBNS is now part of a wider international interdisciplinary alliance with a focus on improving global surgical access.

Left to right: Richard Henker (Secretary of the Permanent Council), Peter Hutchinson (SBNS President Elect), Bisola Onajin-Obembe (President of the Permanent Council)

The G4 Outreach Day included discussions on important themes including around surgical health system strengthening, referral pathways for improved surgical care, the role of surgery in the wider battle against non-communicable diseases, and the essential role of data to drive advocacy and policy efforts.

The ABSI representatives joined a strong neurosurgical presence at this WHA, with more than 15 neurosurgeons from a wide range of countries.

Key conditions accounting for a significant portion of the global burden of disease were highlighted, including traumatic brain injury, stroke and congenital anomalies. Tariq Khan and Peter Hutchinson gave a joint presentation on the concept of making TBI a notifiable disease and the ongoing GEO-TBI registry (link: https://geotbi.org/).

Neurosurgeons at the G4 Alliance meeting. From left to right: Andreas Rubiano (Colombia), Othman Kiloloma (Tanzania), Peter Hutchinson (UK), Sara Venturini (UK), Alfredo Borrero (Ecuador), Roxanna Garcia (USA), Tariq Khan (Pakistan), Gail Rosseau (USA), Sandi Lam (USA), Tommi Korhonen (Finland), Richard Moser (USA), Scott Robertson (USA), Kee Park (USA), Kerry Vaughan (USA), Souhil Tliba (Algeria).

Other side events focussing on surgery and non-communicable diseases The ABSI team attended other key events and engaged with stakeholders at several sessions.

  • The ‘Revolutionising Global Health: A Call to Action for Multisectoral Collaboration to Tackle Non-Communicable Diseases with Surgical Intervention and Achieve Sustainable Development Global Health Goals’ event hosted by Mission Thrombectomy, American Heart Association, WFSA, G4 Alliance, Smile Train. This event had a strong focus on tacking stroke and acquired brain injury.
  • The Global Surgery Foundation’s event on ‘Unleashing Powerful Partnerships for Women’s Health Equity’, where surgical care was highlighted as an essential component of achieving a strong health system.
  • The ‘Congenital Anomalies and Universal Health: Leaving No One Behind’ event hosted by the Children’s HeartLink focussed on children surgery also highlighted the need for surgery as part of the management of congenital anomalies.
  • The NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery delivered a side event entitled ‘Strengthening health systems across the world through surgery’ focussing on how surgery can strengthen whole systems healthcare.
  • The event ‘Data-Driven Transformation: The Operative Encounter Registry’ held by the G4 Alliance and partners, where the importance of high-quality surgical data and the implementation of the operative encounter registry were the focus of discussion.

Walk the Talk – Health for All
Finally, the ABSI delegation also attended the annual Walk the Talk event, a fun and engaging free physical activity event open to the public promoting #HealthForAll and encouraging people to engage in healthy lifestyle.

Gantry 5
Gantry 5