New Partnership between the Canadian Network for International Surgery & UNITAR

12 December 2019, Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Canadian Network for International Surgery (CNIS) signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The Canadian Network for International Surgery is committed to empowering low-income countries to create an environment where the risk from injuries is minimal and that all people receive adequate healthcare. CNIS believes in sharing knowledge, expertise and experience to promote lasting and sustainable improvements in health and safety in the developing world.

The global burden of non-communicable diseases and injury is increasing at an alarming rate. The demand for surgical care and anaesthesia is rising proportionately. Approximately 30% of the world’s burden of disease is caused by conditions that can be treated by surgery or require the direct care of a surgeon. Capacity building is an important instrument in tackling social health inequities by enhancing the capacity of organisations at national, regional and local levels to address the social determinants of the health inequalities.

CNIS will celebrate its 25th year of development activity in 2020. During these years more than 40,000 African health professionals have learned surgical, obstetrical and anesthetic skills through CNIS structured Clinical Training. The courses include interactive lectures, Socratic quiz questions, case management scenarios, and technical skills exercise. Both the scenarios and technical exercises are simulation-based training although some courses follow up simulation with supervised operating room experience.

UNITAR and CNIS aim to collaborate to make available CNIS’s curriculum of training courses for surgeons, obstetricians anesthetists and associate health professionals globally and to offer innovative capacity-building tools to support the development of improved surgical care systems globally.