Global collaboration to strengthen surgical care in low- and middle-income countries through knowledge sharing and capacity building.

Washington, DC, USA – October 28, 2024 – The Global Alliance for Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma, and Anesthesia Care has signed with Project ECHO to establish a Virtual Community of Practice supporting its Operative Encounter Registry, a digital software platform for collecting, storing, and analyzing Surgical Obstetric Trauma and Anesthesia care data. This key initiative furthers the Alliance’s mission to improve surgical care and health systems within low—and middle-income countries.

Empowering Global Surgery Through Collaboration

The Operative Encounter Registry will serve as a first step toward a fundamentally new management of surgical care; it will impact surgical care by enabling providers in the LMICs to collect, analyze, and use operative case data to improve surgical care in these settings.

A virtual community will be created for doctors, healthcare advocates, professors, and corporate leaders to participate in knowledge sharing, peer support, and case-based learning. Health professionals will also present real case studies from the hospitals they represent, engage in expert discussions, and receive guidance from experienced professionals in surgical care and health data systems.

“This partnership marks the next major step toward our mission of improving surgical care for all, but particularly in the most resource-constrained settings,” said Claudio Tanca, Executive Director of the G4 Alliance. “Through access to Project ECHO’s deep expertise in virtual peer-to-peer learning, the G4 Alliance will be able to embed the Operative Encounter Registry more effectively within the practice of health providers in LMICs to strengthen health systems and improve the quality of patient care.”

Virtual Platform for Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building

The virtual Community of Practice will hold regular sessions of case discussions, expert presentations, and collaborative problem-solving. These sessions will build capacity among health providers in LMICs to implement the Operative Encounter Registry and use data to improve surgical care. Additionally, the platform will consist of an online resource hub for training material, recorded sessions, and guidelines on using the registry and strengthening health systems.

The project is also foreseen to provide beneficial feedback from healthcare providers at pilot sites. This feedback would be real-time, further refine the Operative Encounter Registry, and inform future efforts to increase its use across more hospitals and countries.

Supporting Health System Strengthening in LMICs

Further, the virtual platform supports the Operative Encounter Registry, which is critical to the G4 Alliance’s broader function of strengthening the health systems of LMICs. Using operative data from several hospitals, the registry would enable interest in health policy and improve surgical care locally and globally.

“We’re very proud to partner with the G4 Alliance on this exciting and pioneering opportunity,” said Dr. Sanjeev Arora, Founder and Director of Project ECHO. “Together, we can develop a global community of health professionals committed to improving surgical care in some of the most underserved parts of the world. This partnership showcases what can be achieved by virtual communities coming together with passion to drive positive change and improve healthcare outcomes.”

Project ECHO has over two decades of experience linking healthcare providers in underserved regions with expert teams. Under its peer-to-peer learning model, Project ECHO has played a critical role in improving health outcomes in LMICs, including those resulting from collaborations with the WHO.

About G4 Alliance

The Global Alliance for Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma, and Anesthesia Care (G4 Alliance) is an advocacy-based coalition representing over 70 organizations worldwide. The Alliance is committed to providing equitable access to surgical care for all, especially in low—and middle-income countries. The G4 Alliance works to strengthen healthcare systems by advocating for the inclusion of surgical care as a core component of universal health coverage. See: https://theg4alliance.org/

About Project ECHO

Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a global organization based at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center that uses technology to connect expert teams with healthcare providers in underserved areas. Through its innovative tele mentoring model, Project ECHO enables providers to learn from experts and one another to provide better care to patients wherever they live. See: https://projectecho.unm.edu/

For media inquiries, please contact:

Claudio Tanca

Executive Director of the G4 Alliance

claudio.tancaATtheg4alliance.org