Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Volume 94, Number 3, March 2016, 157-232
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/94/3/en/

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EDITORIALS
Data sharing in public health emergencies: a call to researchers
Christopher Dye, Kidist Bartolomeos, Vasee Moorthy & Marie Paule Kieny
http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.16.170860

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Measuring quality-of-care in the context of sustainable development goal 3: a call for papers
Yoko Akachi, Finn Tarp, Edward Kelley, Tony Addison & Margaret E Kruk
http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.16.170605

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Research
Size and distribution of the global volume of surgery in 2012
Thomas G Weiser, Alex B Haynes, George Molina, Stuart R Lipsitz, Micaela M Esquivel, Tarsicio Uribe-Leitz, Rui Fu, Tej Azad, Tiffany E Chao, William R Berry & Atul A Gawande
http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.15.159293
Abstract
Objective
To estimate global surgical volume in 2012 and compare it with estimates from 2004.
Methods
For the 194 Member States of the World Health Organization, we searched PubMed for studies and contacted key informants for reports on surgical volumes between 2005 and 2012. We obtained data on population and total health expenditure per capita for 2012 and categorized Member States as very-low, low, middle and high expenditure. Data on caesarean delivery were obtained from validated statistical reports. For Member States without recorded surgical data, we estimated volumes by multiple imputation using data on total health expenditure. We estimated caesarean deliveries as a proportion of all surgery.
Findings
We identified 66 Member States reporting surgical data. We estimated that 312.9 million operations (95% confidence interval, CI: 266.2–359.5) took place in 2012, an increase from the 2004 estimate of 226.4 million operations. Only 6.3% (95% CI: 1.7–22.9) and 23.1% (95% CI: 14.8–36.7) of operations took place in very-low- and low-expenditure Member States representing 36.8% (2573 million people) and 34.2% (2393 million people) of the global population of 7001 million people, respectively. Caesarean deliveries comprised 29.6% (5.8/19.6 million operations; 95% CI: 9.7–91.7) of the total surgical volume in very-low-expenditure Member States, but only 2.7% (5.1/187.0 million operations; 95% CI: 2.2–3.4) in high-expenditure Member States.
Conclusion
Surgical volume is large and growing, with caesarean delivery comprising nearly a third of operations in most resource-poor settings. Nonetheless, there remains disparity in the provision of surgical services globally.

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POLICY & PRACTICE
Psychosocial effects of an Ebola outbreak at individual, community and international levels
Tine Van Bortel, Anoma Basnayake, Fatou Wurie, Musu Jambai, Alimamy Sultan Koroma, Andrew T Muana, Katrina Hann, Julian Eaton, Steven Martin & Laura B Nellums
http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.15.158543

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PERSPECTIVES
A new global agenda for nutrition and health: the importance of agriculture and food systems
Andrew D Jones & Gebisa Ejeta
http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.15.164509

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Disability, noncommunicable disease and health information
Nicola C Richards, Hebe N Gouda, Jo Durham, Rasika Rampatige, Anna Rodney & Maxine Whittaker
http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.15.156869