On December 9, 2016, the following document was presented to Dr. Walter Johnson of the World Health Organization in Bogota, Colombia.

The launch was attended by (from L to R) Andres Rubiano, Meena Cherian, Vice-Minister of Health of Colombia, Enrique Osorio, Franco Servadei, Andrew Maas, Water Johnson, and Kee Park

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 “143 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.

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We ask neurosurgeons and related stakeholders in delivering neurosurgical care to support this declaration by signing your names HERE. Please include your institution if appropriate.

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Kee B. Park
Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School (USA)

Mojgan Hodaie
NEURONproject, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto (CANADA)

Enrique Osorio-Fonseca
President of the Colombian Association of Neurosurgery, Chair, Spine Chapter, WFNS (COLOMBIA)

Andrés M Rubiano
President, Colombian Trauma Association, Vice Chair, Neurotrauma Chapter FLANC (COLOMBIA)

Benjamin Warf
Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School (USA)

Michael Dewan
Vanderbilt University (USA)

Kyoung-Suok Cho
The Catholic University of Korea, President, Asiana-Oceana Neurotrauma Society (REPUBLIC OF KOREA)

Maria F. Jimenez 
Vice President, Colombian Association of Surgery, Chair, XIV Region, COT-ACS (COLOMBIA)

Peter Reilly 
Royal Adelaide Hospital, Neurotrauma Committee, Asian Australasian Congress of Neurological Surgeons(AUSTRALIA)

Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld 
The Alfred Hospital, The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons(AUSTRALIA)

Nancy Carney 
Scientist & Professor, Oregon Health Sciences University (USA)

P. David Adelson
Director, Barrow Neurosciences Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (USA)

Jorge Arango 
Scientist, Barrow Neurosciences Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (USA)

Meena Cherian 
Professor of Anesthesiology, Christian Medical College (INDIA)

Juan C. Puyana
Director, Global Health Office at Surgery Department – UPMC (USA)

Gene Bolles
Professor of Neurosurgery, Denver Medical Center – Co-Chair, Ethics & Legal Committee WFNS (USA)

Tariq Khan 
Professor of Neurosurgery (PAKISTAN)

Russell J. Andrews 
Neurosurgeon, Newsletter Editor, WFNS (USA)

Iv Vycheth 
Neurosurgeon, Preah Kossamak Hospital (CAMBODIA)

Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld 
Neurosurgeon, Director Monash Institue of Medical Engineering (AUSTRALIA)

Gail Rosseau
Chicago(USA)

Abbas Rattani 
Meharry Medical College (USA)

Ya-Ching Hung 
National Yang Ming University (TAIWAN)

Maria Punchak
University of California-Los Angeles (USA)

Craig Rabb
Oklahoma University Medical Center (USA)

Zahir Omer
Erbil Teaching Hospital (IRAQ)

Mohamed Arnaout
Zagazig University Hospital (EGYPT)

Calvin Mak
Queen Elizabeth Hospital(HONG KONG)

Luis Moscote
Clínica Universitaria de Puerto Montt (CHILE)

Juan Sahuquillo
Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (SPAIN)

Sang-Ryong Jeon
Asan Medical Center(REPUBLIC OF KOREA)

Jack Rock
Henry Ford Hospital, Foundation for International Education in Neurological Surgery (USA)

Alfio Spina
(ITALY)

Sonal Sachdev
University of New South Wales (AUSTRALIA)

Antony Thomas
University of Witwatersrand (SOUTH AFRICA)

Ximena Rodrigues
AO Neuro(USA)

Arundhati Biswas
(USA)

Stephanie Wolahan
UCLA (USA)

Amos Olufemi Adeleye
University of Ibadan (NIGERIA)

Becket Arguello
INSS (NICARAGUA)

Francisco Alberto Vilegas Lopez
Hospital Juárez de México (MEXICO)

Isabelle Pelissou-Guyotat
Hospices civils de Lyon (FRANCE)

Richard Edwards
Bristol Royal Hospital for Children(UNITED KINGDOM)

Thomas Pieters
Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester (USA)

Angeles G. Kolias
Clinical Lecturer in Neurosurgery, Addenbrooke’s Hospital & University of Cambridge (UNITED KINGDOM)

Sophie Peeters
UT Southwestern Medical Center (USA)

Rabee Elfeed
Elribat University Hospital (SUDAN)

Christian Matula
Medical University of Vienna (AUSTRIA)

Aliyu Baba Ndajiwo
Windsor University School of Medicine, St. kitts.
(NIGERIA)

Sara Venturini
University of Leicester Medical School (UNITED KINGDOM)

Zulfiquar Ahmed
(INDIA)

Ahmed Balfaqih
King AbdulAziz Medical City, Riyadh. (SAUDI ARABIA)

Niranjana Rajagopal
(INDIA)

Shalinder Aul
(RUSSIA)

David Clark
Academic Clinical Fellow in Neurosurgery, Division of Neurosurgery, University of Cambridge.
(UNITED KINGDOM)