Collaboration is key to strengthening surgical research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa : guest editorial

Global health research efforts are not being instigated in countries that have the highest burden of disease or the greatest clinical need. The so-called '10/90 gap' is well known, describing an estimated 10% of global health research devoted to conditions that account for 90% of the global disease burden. While much effort has addressed this disparity in the past 25 years, recent research from the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery indicates that high-income countries still account for 85% of published articles from the leading 35 countries undertaking surgical research. This situation needs to change. Disease characteristics and research findings from developed countries are potentially impractical and misleading for clinicians practising in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that are less well resourced.