The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery is currently engaged with the Ministry of Health in Cape Verde to implement a National Surgical Plan.  We are utilizing the LCoGS Hospital Assessment Tool to gain information about all surgical facilities and provide a comprehensive understanding on the state of surgical care in the country. The Hospital Assessment Tool captures key elements of the WHO situation assessment tool, allows for measurement of surgical indicators, and also incorporates semi-structured interview questions to understand each hospital through a five-domain framework for national surgical planning. The information gathered from this tool will be used to bring together national stakeholders, identify key strengths and deficits of the surgical system, and set an agenda for target areas for surgical system improvement moving forward. Cape Verde is amongst the first of our partners to fully engage in the surgical system planning process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As of March 2016, we have made great strides towards establishing the first installment of the National Surgical Plan. Following formal approval from both ministerial authorities and the country’s national review board, in-person initial site visits have been conducted in four of the six surgical facilities across all islands. Focal points from each of the six hospitals are being selected and charged with assembling local teams of representative including a surgeon, nurse, anesthesiologist, OB/Gyn and a research delegate. These representatives will be divided according to the five-domain frameworks and will begin agenda-setting working groups ahead of the National Surgical Forum, which is currently planned for June 2016.

This process involves many important stakeholders and partners, including the University of Cabo Verde (UniCV) and Instituto Nacional de Previdencia Social (INPS). UniCV is in the process of devising a strategy for future prospective data collection of surgical indicator.