Our recently published paper in the World Journal of Surgery outlines optimal manpower and equipment resources for each subspecialty of children’s surgery at each level hospital in the health care system. Our hope is that these guidelines will serve as the benchmarks for building surgical services through National Surgical, Obstetrics, and Anesthesia Plans (NSOAPs), and that they can serve as tools to advocate for more resources for children’s surgery. Finally, by providing a list of Essential Children’s Surgical Services for each level hospital we hope that surgical care for children will improve and become more safe throughout the world.
