Implementation strategy for data-driven surgical systems: a South African perspective.

ABSTRACT: Surgical care is essential to achieving universal health coverage, yet many African low-income, lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) and upper-middle-income countries - including South Africa-struggle to harness healthcare data for surgical system strengthening. Despite global advocacy efforts and the adoption of surgical indicators such as perioperative mortality rate and surgical volume, fragmented routine health information systems, limited human resource capacity and siloed data architecture hinder effective, data-informed planning and policy. Drawing on a South African case study, this high-level perspective highlights institutional momentum for integrating routine perioperative data into strategic health planning, while also identifying key technical and operational challenges. The

SUBMITTER: Kluyts HL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12853495 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature