Addressing paediatric surgical care on World Birth Defects Day

• Published in: The Lancet (British edition) Vol. 391; no. 10125; p. 1019
• Main Authors: Wright, Naomi J, Anderson, Jamie E, Ozgediz, Doruk, Farmer, Diana L, Banu, Tahmina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 17.03.2018; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Birth defects; Children & youth; Congenital defects; Disease; Disease control; Health risk assessment; Hernias; Infectious diseases; Mortality; Preventable deaths; Surgery; Sustainable development; United States > US; Uganda
• ISSN: 0140-6736; 1474-547X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30501-4

Birth defects are now the fifth leading cause of death in children under 5 years of age.1 Global under-5 mortality has decreased by 52% since 1990, largely due to prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, but the proportion of death due to birth defects has continued to grow (figure).1,2 An estimated two-thirds of the burden of disease related to birth defects can be averted through surgical care.3 Without sufficient investment in surgical care for children, it will be impossible to meet the second target of the Sustainable Development Goal 3: to end preventable deaths of newborn babies and children under 5 years of age by 2030.Surgical care for children is cost-effective, particularly for birth defects in which the condition can be cured or the associated disability can be substantially improved.Because the intervention occurs at such a young age, the potential effect on disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) is powerful.3 HT Debas, P Donkor, A Gawande, Disease control priorities, 3rd edn-volume 1: essential surgery, 2015, World Bank, Washington, DC 4 G Eeson, D Birabwa-Male, M Pennington, GK Blair, Costs and cost-effectiveness of pediatric inguinal hernia repair in Uganda, World J Surg, Vol. 39, 2015, 343-349 5 LF Goodman, E St-Louis, Y Yousef, Eur J Pediatr Surg, Vol. 28, 2018, 51-59