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Safe Surgery 2020 Initiative, a five year strategic plan, unveiled
at global health leadership panel during the UN General Assembly
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The GE Foundation to lead private sector effort to improve surgical
capacity, infrastructure, and training globally with $25 million
commitment over three years
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Program will address lack of access to safe surgery for over five
billion people worldwide by focusing on three core pillars: leadership
development; innovation; and elevating ideas
The GE Foundation is announcing its commitment to global safe surgery
with the launch of the Safe Surgery 2020 Initiative. With just under a
third of all deaths (16.9 million in 2010) from conditions treatable
with surgery, the global need for a solution is critical. Safe Surgery
2020 aims to reduce maternal and trauma-related mortality and create
stronger health systems by transforming access, quality and safety of
surgical care in regions that need it most: low-and middle-income
countries. The official launch of the initiative is taking place at a
panel discussion on surgery in the developing world as a UN General
Assembly (UNGA) satellite event on Friday, September 25 at 30
Rockefeller Plaza.
With a commitment of $25 million over the next three years, the
Initiative will seek to accelerate access to safe surgery and anesthesia
worldwide through investments in three core pillars: leadership
development and facility toolkit; innovation; and elevating ideas.
“Five billion people lack access to the safe surgical care they need. If
no action is taken soon, surgical conditions will cost low- and
middle-income countries $12.3 trillion dollars by 2030,”1
said Deborah Elam, President, the GE Foundation and Chief Diversity
Officer. “We believe safe surgery is an area ripe for innovations.
Despite growing momentum, safe surgery is not receiving the attention
and funding needed to save lives. Safe Surgery 2020 aims to change that.”
GE Foundation is partnering with several organizations on Safe Surgery
2020 to:
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Provide leadership development on-the-ground in low- and middle-income
countries to improve the quality of surgical care in target facilities
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Identify, test and scale innovations, accelerating progress in safe
surgery both at the facility-level and more broadly
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Identify proven programs to improve surgical care, and elevate the
profile of surgery on a global stage
Safe Surgery 2020 follows the GE Foundation’s inaugural safe surgical
operating program in Ethiopia, which formally launched at the Global
Entrepreneurship Summit in July 2015. At the Summit, GE launched its
commitment to improving safe surgery in Ethiopia through a new
partnership with Lifebox, a non-governmental organization focused on
implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Safe Surgical
Checklist. This new program aims to standardize safe surgery by
increasing access to and quality of surgery, reducing surgical
complications, and preventing patient deaths in the region.
Panel participants and partners will discuss the unique approaches that
they are collectively deploying in order to generate greater support for
safe surgery and to elevate it on the global agenda. The kick-off event
on Friday, September 25th will host speakers and panelists
including:
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Dr. Kesete Admasu, Minister of Health, Federal Republic of Ethiopia
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Dr. Harshad Sanghvi, Vice President, Innovations and Medical Director,
Jhpiego
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Dr. Matt McEvoy, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt
University
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Deborah Elam, President, the GE Foundation and Chief Diversity
Officer, GE
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Jay Ireland, President and CEO, GE Africa
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Terri Bresenham, President and CEO, Sustainable Healthcare Solutions
at GE Healthcare
ABOUT GE FOUNDATION
The GE Foundation, the philanthropic organization of GE, is committed to
building a world that works better. We empower people by helping them
build the skills they need to succeed in a global economy. We equip
communities with the technology and capacity to improve access to better
health and education. We elevate ideas that are tackling the world's
toughest challenges to advance economic development and improve lives.
The GE Foundation is powered by the generosity and talent of our
employees, who have a strong commitment to their communities. We are at
work making the world work better. Follow the GE Foundation at www.gefoundation.com
and on Twitter at @GE_Foundation.
1 Source: Lancet Commission on Global Safe Surgery. See also http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150426005021/en/Lancet-Billion-People-Globally-Lack-Access-Safe#.VgMDfctViko
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150925005275/en/
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