Health leaders gathered here today to consider measures to ensure that safe and affordable surgical care will become more widely available to the 2.2 billion people spread across the vast Western Pacific Region.
The health leaders, representing 38 countries and areas at the seventy-sixth session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, called for the inclusion of surgical care within primary health care and universal health coverage schemes to ensure that life-saving operations are available to everyone, everywhere.
“Across the Western Pacific, safe and affordable surgery has become one of the most powerful tests of how well our health systems serve our people,” said Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.
“Every safe operation tells a bigger story – that our health system works when our people need it most,” said Dr Piukala, who is also a surgeon.
Postoperative deaths are the third leading cause of mortality worldwide, despite being largely preventable. Globally, 5 billion people still lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anaesthesia care, and 1.5 million lives could be saved each year through basic, cost-effective interventions.
To address the issue in Pacific island countries and areas, WHO is providing support to implement the Action Framework for Safe and Affordable Surgery in the Western Pacific (2021–2030) and a 2023 World Health Assembly resolution on Integrated Emergency, Critical and Operative Care, embedding surgical services within primary health care systems to reach even the most remote communities.
Across the Western Pacific Region, measurable gains have been recorded:
- 40% of countries in the Region now use the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, which includes first-level hospitals.
- 70% are introducing legal protections for staff who report patient safety incidents – a critical step towards establishing and strengthening a culture of safety.
- 60% of first-level surgical hospitals report a 24-hour oxygen supply, and 80% include surgical care in their universal health coverage benefit packages.
- Countries including Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga have developed or strengthened national surgical, obstetric and anaesthesia plans to guide long-term system improvements.
“Eight in 10 countries have placed surgery in their essential benefit packages, meaning access and affordability is now a right, not a privilege,” said Lluis Vinyals Torres, Director, Division of Health Systems, WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific. “Good surgical care means strong health systems, and the Western Pacific Region is showing the world how it can be done.”
Pacific successes offer global lessons
Western Pacific countries and areas are proving that effective surgical systems rely on leadership, integration and data:
- Leadership and governance: Training programmes in Cambodia and Kiribati show that local ownership drives lasting safety improvements.
- Integration with primary health care: The Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Solomon Islands are linking surgical care with early detection and referral for obstetric emergencies and diabetic foot care.
- Systems thinking: Strengthening sterilization practices and infection prevention improves outcomes across maternal health, emergency care and antibiotic stewardship.
Challenges and the road ahead
Despite progress, challenges remain. Many rural and outer-island hospitals still face supply chain gaps, health-care facilities that are not resilient to climate change and data limitations – with only half of countries currently tracking key surgical outcomes such as perioperative mortality or surgical-site infections.
To sustain progress, WHO and partners are helping countries embed surgical care into national budgets and essential health service packages, ensuring that safety and equity become core features of universal health coverage.
The WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific is supporting a community of practice among Pacific ministries and hospitals – sharing leadership curricula, safety-audit tools and real-time benchmarking data to drive regional learning and accountability.
“The Pacific is proving that safer surgery is not a luxury – it is primary care, emergency care and universal health coverage in action,” said Dr Piukala.
Note to editors:
The Action Framework for Safe and Affordable Surgery in the Western Pacific (2021–2030) guides countries in integrating surgical, obstetric and anaesthesia services within primary and emergency care systems. Aligned with the 2023 World Health Assembly resolution on Integrated Emergency, Critical and Operative Care, the initiative aims to ensure that, by 2030, everyone in the Western Pacific has access to safe, affordable surgical care.
For more information, or media interviews, please contact wprocom@who.int.