Neurosurgery as a Catalyst for Global Health and Surgery Targets: Road to 2030 Highlights from WHO's 78th World Health Assembly

Noor Alesawy, Global Surgery Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Global Surgery, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Nicole A. Perez, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Piper Tingleaf, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Ramya Reddy, Program for Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Walter Johnson, Department of Neurosurgery, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, USA; Mercy Ships, Garden Valley, Texas, USA.
Kerry A. Vaughan, Barrow Global, Department of Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
Eylem Ocal, Department of Neurosurgery, University Of Arkansas For Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
Tariq Khan, The G4 Alliance, Washington, DC, USA; Northwest General Hospital and Research Centre, Peshawar, Pakistan.
Kemel A. Ghotme, Translational Neurosciences and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Colombia; Pediatric Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia.
Jeffrey Blount, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Children's of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Mohammad Ali Aziz-Sultan, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Kee B. Park, Program for Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Gail Rosseau, Barrow Global, Department of Neurosurgery, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, USA; The G4 Alliance, Washington, DC, USA; Department of Neurological Surgery, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. Electronic address: gailrosseaumd@gmail.com.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

9-15-2025

Journal

World neurosurgery

DOI

10.1016/j.wneu.2025.124487

Keywords

United Nations; World Health Assembly; World Health Organization; global health; global surgery; neurosurgery; policymaking; science diplomacy

Abstract

The 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78) marked a decade since three pivotal milestones in global surgery: the 2015 Lancet Commission on Global Surgery (LCoGS) report, the adoption of WHA Resolution 68.15 recognizing surgery and anesthesia as integral to Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and the launch of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Together, these set 2030 as the shared target year for strengthening surgical systems worldwide. This review highlights WHA78's role as a critical checkpoint, emphasizing how neurosurgery can serve as both a specialty and a strategic catalyst for achieving global health and surgery targets.

Department

Neurological Surgery

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