Access to safe surgical, obstetric, trauma, and anaesthesia (SOTA) care is essential to achieving universal health coverage (UHC), strengthening primary health care (PHC), and building resilient health systems. Yet large gaps remain, particularly in low-resource settings where preventable deaths and disabilities persist. Efforts to improve SOTA care require coordinated action across global, regional, national, and local levels, and collaboration among governments, professional societies, civil society, and communities.
Â
The G4 Alliance serves as a global coalition dedicated to advancing equitable access to SOTA care. With more than 70 member organizations representing diverse expertise, the G4 Alliance brings together partners committed to improving surgical and anaesthesia care worldwide. As global health priorities evolve and demands on health systems grow, collective advocacy, shared learning, and strong partnerships are increasingly important.
Â
This Strategic Plan outlines the G4 Alliance’s priorities for 2025–2027. It provides a framework for strengthening advocacy, supporting policy leadership, advancing data and evidence, and sustaining a global community focused on improving SOTA and emergency, critical, and operative (ECO) care. Through these commitments, the G4 Alliance will work with partners to expand equitable access to essential operative care and contribute to resilient health systems worldwide.
Goal 1 — Increase Global Awareness of Gaps in SOTA Care
The G4 Alliance will elevate understanding of global inequities in SOTA access, using data and member insights to inform policymakers and partners
Goal 2 — Drive Policy Change in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
We will work with governments and partners to strengthen national health policies that integrate SOTA and ECO care, particularly for vulnerable populations.
Goal 3 — Become an Advocacy Hub for SOTA Care
Through the WHO OER pilot and a new Community of Practice, the G4 Alliance will serve as a central platform for evidence‑based advocacy and implementation learning.
Goal 4 — Convene and Grow the Global SOTA Community
We will strengthen connections across member organizations, supporting collaboration, shared
identity, and collective advocacy capacity.
Goal 1 — Increase global awareness of the gap in access to SOTA care
Awareness remains critical to addressing the persistent disparities in access to SOTA care across regions and populations. By highlighting these gaps through emerging data, evidence, and practitioner insights, the G4 Alliance will help build the political and public will needed to integrate SOTA into PHC and UHC.
Â
We will collaborate with WHO regional offices, the Acute Care Action Network (ACAN), and global partners to amplify consistent messages positioning SOTA care as a cornerstone of resilient health systems.
Goal 2 — Drive Policy Change for SOTA Care in LMICs
The G4 Alliance aims to support policy integration of SOTA and the WHO Strategy and Action Plan for Integrated ECO Care (2026–2035) across LMICs. Persistent inequities disproportionately affect women, children, rural communities, displaced populations, and others facing structural barriers.
Â
Over the next three years, we will collaborate with members and regional partners to identify priority needs, support regional convening, and strengthen evidence‑informed advocacy. Policy opportunities span PHC, maternal and child health, NCDs, and emergency preparedness, areas increasingly affected by climate shocks, conflict, and economic instability.
Goal 3 — Become an Advocacy Hub for SOTA Care
The G4 Alliance occupies a unique position connecting global policy processes with technical expertise and on‑the‑ground experience. To meet growing demand for integrated policy solutions, the Alliance will build an Advocacy Hub that strengthens implementation learning and supports evidence‑based policy advocacy.
Â
Our work will begin with the WHO Operative Encounter Registry (OER) pilot and the launch of the G4 Alliance OER Community of Practice, enabling members to translate data into improved policies and practices. Over time, the Hub will become a central platform for coordinated advocacy informed by lived experience and local priorities.
Goal 4 — Convene and Grow the Global Community for SOTA Care
 A strong community is the engine of effective advocacy. Over the next three years, the G4 Alliance will invest in cultivating an active, collaborative global network through regular convenings, regional dialogues, Communities of Practice, and shared learning platforms.
Â
Sustaining this community also requires strong communication systems, organizational capacity, and reliable coordination. These investments will enable the Alliance to better mobilize evidence, align around shared priorities, and support collective action to expand access to SOTA care worldwide.
Join us in advancing equitable SOTA care worldwide.