The Bogota Declaration on Global Neurosurgery

1. In 2015 the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery reported that 5 billion people currently lack access to safe, affordable, and timely surgical care when needed and that up to “5 million additional surgeries are needed each year to save lives and prevent disability.”
   
   
2. Most of the unmet need is in low- and middle-income countries.
   
   
3. A preliminary assessment of the unmet neurosurgical care is alarming:
   
   
   • World Bank estimates in Sub-Saharan Africa show that currently only 11.8% of neurosurgical demand is being met and an additional 1.3 million neurosurgical procedures are needed annually.
     
     
   • The current neurosurgical workforce for Africa represents, at most, 5% of expected number of 1 neurosurgeon per 100,000.
     
     
   • Only 42% of African countries and 75% of Latin America offer in-country training of neurosurgeons.
     
     
4. We affirm the inherent responsibility for providing neurosurgical care to all who need it lies with the global community of neurosurgeons.

We therefore hereby declare Global Neurosurgery as the collective and unified effort in improving all aspects of neurosurgical care whenever and wherever it is needed.

We call on the neurosurgeons as well as their professional societies of the world and related stakeholders to take urgent coordinated action to lead and address the unmet global neurosurgical need.