The International College of Surgeons (www.icsglobal.org) is a surgical society with individual sections on every continent. It was founded in Geneva in 1935 by Dr. Max Thorek to build a bridge between surgeons of all countries, without discrimination of home, creed or race, and to contribute to the development of surgery throughout the world.  The ICS humanitarian program, aims to promote medical and especially surgical care in neglected societies in a sustainable manner. To this end, local resources are to be developed and trained. The aim is not to import highly specialized medicine, but to focus on promoting basic and emergency surgery in line with the WHO's Global Initiative for Essential and Emergency Surgical Care (GIEESC) initiative. 

http://www.icsglobal.org/

Project description Nigeria

Since 2011, teams of experienced physicians from various surgical disciplines (surgery, anesthesia, gynecology and obstetrics, and surgical staff) have traveled several times a year to Okpoga, Nigeria, to a 120-bed district hospital.   Nigeria is located in West Africa and is the most populous country in Africa with approximately 200 million inhabitants. Nigeria is one of the poorest countries in the world (Human Development Index is 0.529 (152/188th rank)). 46 % of the population lives below the national poverty line. In terms of the World Bank poverty line, 53.5 % live in absolute poverty of less than 2 dollars per day.  As in many African district hospitals, there is a great shortage of trained personnel and specialized doctors in Okpoga. Therefore, in accordance with the recommendations of the WHO's GIEESC initiative, we are committed to providing basic theoretical and practical training for physicians and non-physician medical staff, with a focus on basic and emergency surgical care, gynecology/obstetrics and anesthesia.   For example, in recent years we have trained several physicians and nurses in basic and emergency care of surgical and obstetric conditions. Inguinal hernias and cesarean sections are among the most commonly performed surgeries in southern Africa. Despite this, many untreated patients still die needlessly from complications of this condition. However, through intensive training and the use of inexpensive mosquito nets instead of expensive industrial nets, the treatment of patients has already been sustainably improved.