Bridging the data gap in global health: an electronic surgical outcomes database at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda

Background Annually, an estimated 17 million lives are lost from conditions requiring surgical care and at least 77·2 million disability-adjusted life-years could be averted through provision of basic surgical services. Despite the staggering burden of surgical disease, there are scarce data available to track current capacity, volume, epidemiology, outcomes, and quality of surgical care delivery in low-income and middle-income countries. We …