Cash Transfers may Increase the No-show Rate for Surgical Patients in Low-resource Settings: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Over two-thirds of the world's population cannot access surgery when needed. Interventions to address this gap have primarily focused on surgical training and ministry-level surgical planning. However, patients more commonly cite cost-rather than governance or surgeon availability-as their primary access barrier. We undertook a randomized, controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effect on compliance with scheduled surgical appointments of addressing this barrier through a cash transfer. METHODS: 453 patients who were deemed surgical candidates by a nursing screening team in Guinea, West Africa, were randomized into three study arms: control, conditional cash transfer, and labeled unconditional cash transfer. Patients in the conditional cash transfer group were given a cash transfer to cover their transportation costs once they had been discharged from care. Patients in the unconditional arm were given a cash transfer to cover their transportation costs before they left their homes to get care. Arrival to a scheduled surgical appointment was the primary outcome. The study was performed in conjunction with Mercy Ships. RESULTS: The overall no-show rate was five-fold lower in Guinea than previously published estimates, likely due to changes in the patient selection and retention process, leading to an underpowered study. In a post-hoc analysis, which included non-randomized patients, patients in the control group and the conditional cash transfer group demonstrated no effect from the cash transfer. Patients in the unconditional cash transfer group were significantly less likely to arrive for their scheduled appointment. Subgroup analysis suggested that actual receipt of the unconditional cash transfer, instead of a lapse in the transfer mechanism, was associated with failure to show. CONCLUSION: We find that cash transfers are feasible for surgical patients in a low-resource setting, but that unconditional transfers may have negative effects on compliance. Although demand-side barriers are large for surgical patients in low-resource settings, interventions to address them must be designed with care. CONTEXTE: Plus des deux tiers de la population mondiale n'ont pas accès à la chirurgie lorsqu'ils en ont besoin. Les interventions visant à combler cette lacune ont principalement sur la formation chirurgicale et la planification chirurgicale au niveau ministériel. Cependant, les patients citent plus souvent le coût - plutôt que la gouvernance ou la disponibilité des chirurgiens - comme étant leur principal obstacle à l'accès. Nous avons entrepris un essai contrôlé randomisé (ECR) pour évaluer l'effet sur le respect des rendez-vous chirurgicaux programmés en s'attaquant à cet barrière par un transfert d'argent. MÉTHODES: 453 patients considérés comme des candidats à la chirurgie par une équipe de dépistage infirmière en Guinée, Afrique de l'Ouest, ont été répartis de manière aléatoire dans trois bras d'étude : contrôle, transfert monétaire conditionnel et transfert monétaire non transfert monétaire inconditionnel. Les patients du groupe de transfert monétaire conditionnel ont reçu un transfert d'argent pour couvrir leurs frais de transport une fois qu'ils étaient sortis des soins. Les patients du groupe de transfert inconditionnel recevaient un transfert en espèces pour couvrir leurs frais de transport avant de quitter leur domicile pour recevoir des soins. L'arrivée à un rendez-vous chirurgical programmé était le résultat principal. L'étude a été réalisée en collaboration avec Mercy Ships. RÉSULTATS: Le taux global de non-présentation était cinq fois inférieur en Guinée que les estimations publiées précédemment, probablement en raison de changements dans le processus de sélection et de rétention des patients, ce qui a conduit à une étude insuffisamment puissante. Dans une analyse post-hoc, qui incluait des patients non randomisés, les patients dans le groupe de contrôle et dans le groupe de transfert conditionnel n'ont montré aucun effet du transfert d'argent. Les patients du groupe de transfert d'argent sans condition étaient significativement moins susceptibles d'arriver pour leur rendez-vous prévu. L'analyse des sous-groupes suggère que la réception effective du transfert monétaire inconditionnel plutôt d'un erreur en mécanisme de transfert, était associé à l'absence de rendez-vous. CONCLUSION: Nous constatons que les transferts d'argent sont possibles pour les patients chirurgicaux dans un environnement à faibles ressources, mais que les transferts inconditionnels peuvent avoir des effets négatifs sur l'observance. Bien que les obstacles liés à la demande sont importants pour les patients opérés dans des contextes à faibles ressources, les doivent être conçues avec soin. MOTS-CLÉS: Transferts monétaires, Chirurgie, Chirurgie globale, Guinée, Interventions financières, Utilisation chirurgicale, Essai contrôlé randomisé.

Development of a surgical assessment tool for national policy monitoring & evaluation in Ethiopia: A quality improvement study.

BACKGROUND: A baseline assessment of surgical capacity is recommended as a first-step to surgical system strengthening in order to inform national policy. In Ethiopia, the World Health Organization's Tool for Situational Analysis (WHO SAT) was adapted to assess surgical, obstetric, and anesthesia capacity as part of a national initiative: Saving Lives Through Safe Surgery (SaLTS). This study describes the process of adapting this tool and initial results. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The new tool was used to evaluate fourteen hospitals in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia between February and March 2017. Two analytic methods were employed. To compare this data to international metrics, the WHO Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) framework was used. To assess congruence with national policy, data was evaluated against Ethiopian SaLTS targets. RESULTS: Facilities had on average 62% of SARA items necessary for both basic surgery and comprehensive surgery. Primary, general, and specialized facilities offered on average 84%, 100%, and 100% of SARA basic surgeries, and 58%, 73% and 90% of SARA comprehensive surgeries, respectively. An average of 68% of SaLTS primary surgeries were available at primary facilities, 83% at general facilities, and 100% at specialized facilities. General and specialized hospitals offered an average of 80% of SaLTS general surgeries, while one specialized hospital offered 38% of SaLTS specialized surgeries. CONCLUSION: While the modified SaLTS Tool provided evaluation against Ethiopian national benchmarks, the resultant assessment was much lengthier than standard international tools. Analysis of results using the SARA framework allowed for comparison to global standards and provided insight into essential parts of the tool. An assessment tool for national surgical policy should maintain internationally comparable metrics and incorporation into existing surveys when possible, while including country-specific targets.

Evaluating the collection, comparability and findings of six global surgery indicators.

BACKGROUND: In 2015, six indicators were proposed to evaluate global progress towards access to safe, affordable and timely surgical and anaesthesia care. Although some have been adopted as core global health indicators, none has been evaluated systematically. The aims of this study were to assess the availability, comparability and utility of the indicators, and to present available data and updated estimates. METHODS: Nationally representative data were compiled for all World Health Organization (WHO) member states from 2010 to 2016 through contacts with official bodies and review of the published and grey literature, and available databases. Availability, comparability and utility were assessed for each indicator: access to timely essential surgery, specialist surgical workforce density, surgical volume, perioperative mortality, and protection against impoverishing and catastrophic expenditure. Where feasible, imputation models were developed to generate global estimates. RESULTS: Of all WHO member states, 19 had data on the proportion of the population within 2h of a surgical facility, 154 had data on workforce density, 72 reported number of procedures, and nine had perioperative mortality data, but none could report data on catastrophic or impoverishing expenditure. Comparability and utility were variable, and largely dependent on different definitions used. There were sufficient data to estimate that worldwide, in 2015, there were 2 038 947 (i.q.r. 1 884 916-2 281 776) surgeons, obstetricians and anaesthetists, and 266·1 (95 per cent c.i. 220·1 to 344·4) million operations performed. CONCLUSION: Surgical and anaesthesia indicators are increasingly being adopted by the global health community, but data availability remains low. Comparability and utility for all indicators require further resolution.

A global country-level comparison of the financial burden of surgery.

BACKGROUND: Approximately 30 per cent of the global burden of disease is surgical, and nearly one-quarter of individuals who undergo surgery each year face financial hardship because of its cost. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery has proposed the elimination of impoverishment due to surgery by 2030, but no country-level estimates exist of the financial burden of surgical access. METHODS: Using publicly available data, the incidence and risk of financial hardship owing to surgery was estimated for each country. Four measures of financial catastrophe were examined: catastrophic expenditure, and impoverishment at the national poverty line, at 2 international dollars (I$) per day and at I$1·25 per day. Stochastic models of income and surgical costs were built for each country. Results were validated against available primary data. RESULTS: Direct medical costs of surgery put 43·9 (95 per cent posterior credible interval 2·2 to 87·1) per cent of the examined population at risk of catastrophic expenditure, and 57·0 (21·8 to 85·1) per cent at risk of being pushed below I$2 per day. The risk of financial hardship from surgery was highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Correlations were found between the risk of financial catastrophe and external financing of healthcare (positive correlation), national measures of well-being (negative correlation) and the percentage of a country's gross domestic product spent on healthcare (negative correlation). The model performed well against primary data on the costs of surgery. CONCLUSION: Country-specific estimates of financial catastrophe owing to surgical care are presented. The economic benefits projected to occur with the scale-up of surgery are placed at risk if the financial burden of accessing surgery is not addressed in national policies.