Advocating for Global Surgery in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Highlights from the first Global Surgery symposium

Introduction: Access to timely, safe, and affordable surgery is scarce in most of the regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Advocating for global surgery is necessary for the development of an equitable surgical healthcare system. Methods: InciSioN-DRC organized the first Congolese Global Surgery (GS) Symposium to raise public awareness of inequalities in the provision of social healthcare in DRC and to identify key solutions. This was a single-day event with the involvement of surgeons, residents, members of international organizations, local NGO workers, medical students and political authorities of the health system. Questionnaires were distributed to all participants before and after the Symposium. Results: More than 250 people participated. Among them, 150 students completed the pre-symposium survey form (Group 1) and 162 completed the post-symposium form (Group 2), including those from Group 1. The students self-reported a higher level of knowledge of GS after the symposium. The percentage of participants stating initially “poor” knowledge decreased from 59% (n=88, Group 1) to 2% (n=3, Group 2). The percentages of students stating “fair”, “good” or “very good” knowledge increased in Group 2 to 31% (n=47), 56% (n=84) and 11% (n=17) respectively. 91% of students (148/162) were interested in pursuing a career in GS following the symposium. Institution members gathered recommendations from the symposium for consideration in upcoming health policy decisions. Conclusion: This first Congolese symposium highlights the need of a multidisciplinary approach towards social healthcare inequalities. Similar campaigns and meetings are important to bridge the gap between all groups involved.