About us
Making surgical care available to all, everywhere
Our vision and mission
Everyone deserves access to surgical care.
We are the leading organisation with the goal to accelerate access to surgical care, globally.
Our vision
A world with universal and equitable access to safe, quality, timely, and affordable surgical, obstetric, and anaesthesia care.
Our mission
To accelerate and expand the provision of surgical, obstetrical, and anaesthesia care for attaining better health for all.
Become part of our mission
Investing into SURGfund is the best way to achieve direct and lasting impact at scale.
Your individual donation is extremely important to maintain our operations - thank you.
Who are we?
The Global Surgery Foundation (GSF) is the leading global health organisation with the goal to improve access to surgical care, thereby ensuring more equitable access to healthcare for all. GSF is a foundation pursuant to articles 80 and seq. of the Swiss Civil Code and equivalent to a United States 501(c)(3) Organisation.
Leveraging its surgical care expertise and direct links to the United Nations system, governments and international partners, the GSF empowers frontline implementers to achieve sustainable scale up of safe and affordable surgical care systems where they are most needed.
To achieve the greatest impact on reducing death and disability, the GSF serves as a common platform for all sectors and stakeholders, while leveraging its SURGfund, a new catalytic funding mechanism aimed at supporting programming in training and education; policy and planning; project implementation; research; and infrastructure and equipment.
The GSF is governed by the Swiss Civil Code and its Statutes. Its governance has been carefully designed to allow for equitable representation by countries, technical experts, and other stakeholders.
The GSF is a foundation established under the Swiss Civil Code, and is certified equivalent to a US 501(c)(3) Organisation.
The GSF Commitment
“We will not rest
until EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE
has access to surgical care.”
Our model
Here is how we deliver
Our model is designed to achieve the best impact on saving lives, where it matters most.
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Drawing on first-hand experience from other global health organisations, we achieve impact by:
Coordinating actors on our neutral UN-based platform
Financing the best local solutions
Catalysing change through direct support to implementers
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We focus on four specific entry points which have the most immediate impact on saving lives and building strong health systems
Maternal Health
Surgical Care for Children
Injury and Trauma Surgery
Cancer Surgery
To achieve immediate impact, the GSF team has prioritised surgical care for women's health.
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We target multiple sectors of the surgical care system through our four pillars:
Equipment & infrastructure
Education and training
Policy development
Research
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SURGfund is the missing piece for closing the gap in global health and achieving UHC.
It is a coordinated catalytic funding mechanism that mobilises, pools and channels funds to frontline stakeholders to facilitate strengthening of surgical care systems of LMICs.
SURGfund, the catalytic fund for surgical care systems, sits at the centre of our model to tackle the biggest remaining hurdle in global surgery: sustainable financing.
Where we work
We leverage our extensive partner-network for global reach
Our programming strategy carefully considers needs and success factors and is focused on Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs). Our activities have already impacted people in over 140 countries.
Our partnerships
We are uniquely positioned to achieve impact.
Our direct links to the United Nations, governments, and international partners enables us to empower frontline implementers.
Partnerships are most powerful when they are equitable. This is why our approach puts local actors firmly in the drivers seat - we are here to support them. This premise is deeply engrained into our processes, governance, and culture.
Our history
Taking surgical care from stepchild to future of global health
Following the mandate of WHA Resolution 68.15, the GSF has grown from a UN-based initiative into a standalone Swiss-based organisation. Scroll to discover the highlights along our path of growth.
WHA resolution & inception
The concept for the GSF was initiated in 2016 following the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery in 2015 and the WHA Resolution 68.15 which called for “Strengthening emergency and essential surgical care and anaesthesia as a component of universal health coverage”. There has been a unanimous call from global surgery leaders to have a common platform that can assist all stakeholders in achieving the goals set forth in the resolution.
Launch in Davos at World Economic Forum
From 2019, the concept developed further into a project initiative under the Division for People and Social Inclusion at the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNITAR) headquarters, closely linked with governments, multilateral agencies, civil society, philanthropic organizations, academia and industry. The Rali & Makentse Mampeule Foundation based in South Africa generously provided the seed funding for the project initiative. The GSF was formally launched at the World Economic Forum 2020 Annual Meeting in Davos.
Establishment as Swiss Foundation
In 2021, and based on mutual understanding between the project lead and UNITAR Management, efforts were undertaken to further develop the project outside UNITAR. In October 2021, the GSF was registered as a Swiss foundation and benefitted from Smile Train as a founding organisational partner providing generous incubation funding. As a Swiss foundation, the GSF keeps a close strategic partnership and working relations with UNITAR through an official MOU signed in March 2022.
SURGfund announcement
In 2023, the GSF took an important step by formally announcing the establishment of its catalytic fund for surgical care systems: SURGfund. The announcement was made at a GSF side-event co-sponsored by 10 governments at the 76th World Health Assembly.
The GSF programming is linked closely with the UN 2030 Agenda objectives. Our goals are designed to help achieve many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in particular SDG3 “Good Health and Well-being”. Many of the targets outlined in SDG3 will only be achieved if there is a significant increase in access to safe and affordable surgical, obstetrical and anesthesia care.
Enabling communities to better access safe and affordable surgical care services also has a significant impact on achieving the SDG1 “End to Poverty”, SDG5 “Gender Equality”, SDG10 “Reduced Inequalities”. Our operational model will follow many of the targets outlined in SDG17 “Partnerships for the Goals”