Surgery is not a luxury.
It needs to be a basic human right, because millions of people around the globe die each year or suffer lifelong disability from easily correctable conditions like obstructed labor or appendicitis.
A number of readily teachable surgical procedures, performed in basic operating rooms, can stem much of the rising tide of human suffering. We associate surgery with space-age operating rooms filled with fancy equipment. A handful of medical conditions require that. But many do not. Non-surgeons trained to do simple procedures can alleviate up to three-quarters of the surgical need in underserved regions.