University of Oxford Medical School, Osler House, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK.
Oxford University Global Surgery Group, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Hum Resour Health. 2023 Mar 16;21(1):22. doi: 10.1186/s12960-023-00808-6.
Five billion people around the world lack access to safe and affordable surgical, anaesthetic, and obstetric care. There is a link between countries in which women are underrepresented in the surgical workforce and those struggling to meet their surgical need. In this commentary article, the underrepresentation of women in low- and middle-income country's (LMIC) surgical workforce is discussed. It is argued that the issue is self-reinforcing. On one hand, active change requires a sufficient number of female surgeons to initiate it. On the other, women can only start to penetrate the surgical workforce once they are safe, healthy, and motivated enough to do so, in turn depending on the presence of female surgeons to advocate for their female patients and empower future generations of young girls and women.
全球有 50 亿人无法获得安全且负担得起的外科、麻醉和产科护理。在女性在外科劳动力中代表性不足的国家和那些难以满足其外科需求的国家之间存在联系。在这篇评论文章中,讨论了在中低收入国家(LMIC)外科劳动力中女性代表性不足的问题。有人认为,这个问题是自我强化的。一方面,积极的变革需要足够数量的女性外科医生来发起变革。另一方面,只有当女性安全、健康并足够有动力去做时,她们才能开始进入外科劳动力,这反过来又取决于女性外科医生的存在,为她们的女性患者辩护,并赋予年轻女孩和女性后代权力。