Successful Thesis Defense - Irene J.H. Jeong
Congratulations to Irene J.H. Jeong on her successful MSc thesis defense! Irene was supervised by Dr. Janet Martin (MEDICI Centre, Departments of Anesthesia & Perioperative Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics).
Title: Quantifying Timely Access to Surgery: A Global Modelling Study
Degree: Master of Science
Program: Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Abstract: The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery proposed six core indicators to track access to safe, timely, and affordable surgery. We identified published data for countries reporting Indicator 1 (Access to timely essential surgery), defined as a country’s proportion of population living within two hours from the nearest surgery-capable facility, and conducted geospatial analyses to estimate this metric in other countries. In the primary analysis using this data, linear regression models were run to project this indicator for all countries globally according to their Human Development Index; followed by secondary analyses using broader definitions for surgical access, then by sensitivity analyses restricting these definitions. Our primary analysis showed that only a quarter of countries around the world have at least 80% of population with timely access to surgery in 2021. Continued efforts in reporting Indicator 1 and standardizing the definition and methods used to quantify it will be essential in ensuring the comparability and utility of the data across all countries.
