Introduction: An inguinal hernia is where tissue pushes through a weak area in the abdominal wall and inguinal hernia repair is one of the most common surgeries performed worldwide. Untreated inguinal hernias represent a significant burden to patients and society. Currently, demand outstrips supply of inguinal hernia repair in Ghana. Training enough surgeons to repair all of these hernias will take decades, during which time many patients will suffer poor health or die. A potential solution to address the excess demand for inguinal hernia repair requires upscaling of surgically trained non-surgeon physicians in district hospitals. Training additional non-surgeon physicians to undertake simple inguinal hernia repair necessitates an economic rationale for investment of scarce resources. Economic analysis has an important role in limited resource settings and can be used to explore the extent to which task-shifting has the desired impact, if any, on helping to meet the unmet surgical need in these settings.

The webinar will provide an Overview of the Health Economics aspects of task-shifting in surgery and will include a case study modelling the impact of training additional non-surgeon physicians in Ghanian district hospitals to use mesh for simple hernia repair on costs and outcomes.
The webinar is the second in a series of Health Economics related webinars.

The webinar is the second in a series of Health Economics related webinars.

Date: Wednesday 24th May 2023
Duration: 1 hour
Moderator: Mr. Ireneous Dasoberi, Member, AFREhealth Health Economics TWG
Speaker: Mr Mark Monahan, Lecturer in Health Economics, Health Economics Unit, University of Birmingham (45 minutes)