Background: Signiï¬cant limitations in pediatric surgical capacity exist in low- and middle-incomecountries, especially in rural regions. Recent global childrenâs surgical guidelines suggest training andsupport of general surgeons in rural regional hospitals as an effective approach to increasing pediatricsurgical capacity.Methods: Two years of a prospective clinical database of childrenâs surgery admissions at 2 regionalreferral hospitals in Uganda were reviewed. Primary outcomes included case volume and clinicaloutcomes of children at each hospital. Additionally, the disability-adjusted life-years averted by de-livery of pediatric surgical services at these hospitals were calculated. Using a value of statistical lifecalculation, we also estimated the economic beneï¬t of the pediatric surgical care currently beingdelivered.Results: From 2016 to 2019, more than 300 surgical procedures were performed at each hospital per year.The majority of cases were standard general surgery cases including hernia repairs and intussusceptionas well as procedures for surgical infections and trauma. In-hospital mortality was 2.4% in Soroti and 1%in Lacor. Pediatric surgical capacity at these hospitals resulted in over 12,400 disability-adjusted life-years averted/year. This represents an estimated economic beneï¬t of 10.2 million US dollars/year to theUgandan society.
