Access to paediatric surgery: the geography of inequality in Nigeria

BACKGROUND: About 96.3 million children and adolescents aged 0–19 years reside in Nigeria, comprising 54% of the population. Without adequate access to surgery for commonly treatable diseases, many face disability and increased risk of mortality. Due to this population’s unique perioperative needs, increasing access to paediatric surgical care requires a situational evaluation of the distribution of paediatric surgeons and anaesthesiologists. This study’s aim is to identify the percentage of Nigerian youth who reside within 2 hours of paediatric surgical care at the state and national level. METHODS: The Association of Paediatric Surgeons of Nigeria and the Nigeria Society of Anaesthetists provided surgical and anaesthesia workforce data by state. Health facilities with paediatric surgeons were converted to point locations and integrated with ancillary geospatial layers and population estimates from 2016 and 2017. Catchment areas of 2 hours of travel time around a facility were deployed as the benchmark indicator to establish timely access. RESULTS: Across Nigeria’s 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, the percentage of Nigeria’s 0–19 population residing within 2 hours of a health facility with a paediatric surgical and anaesthesia workforce ranges from less than 2% to 22.7%–30.5%. In 3 states, only 2.1%–4.8% of the population can access a facility within 2 hours, 12 have 4.9%–13.8%, and 8 have 13.9%–22.6%. CONCLUSION: There is significant variation across Nigerian states regarding access to surgical care, with 69.5%–98% of Nigeria’s 0–19 population lacking access. Developing paediatric surgical services in underserved Nigerian states and investing in the training of paediatric surgical and anaesthesia workforce for those states are key components in improving the health of Nigeria’s 0–19 population and reducing Nigeria’s burden of surgical disease, in line with Nigeria’s National Surgical, Obstetrics, Anaesthesia and Nursing Plan.