Global Pediatric Surgery: Improving Access, Quality, and Outcomes

Pediatric surgical conditions account for a substantial portion of the global disease burden in children, yet safe, timely, and affordable surgical care remains highly inequitable. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face persistent shortages in trained workforce, infrastructure, equipment, and perioperative systems, restricting access and impacting outcomes. High-income settings also encounter disparities, particularly among marginalized populations, revealing that challenges in achieving high-quality, equitable care cross economic boundaries. Emerging innovations—including workforce training, context-appropriate technologies, adaptive service delivery models, robust data systems, and more integrated perioperative care - hold promise for reducing morbidity and mortality and can ultimately improve lifelong function and equity for children in need of surgery. However, much work remains to be done to prioritize, develop, and scale these interventions across diverse settings, and to ensure that all children benefit from sustained improvements in pediatric surgical care.

This Research Topic seeks multidisciplinary, globally relevant research that advances equitable access to high-quality pediatric surgical care, strengthens systems for safe and timely operations, and improves both short- and long-term outcomes across a diversity of settings. The goal is to accelerate progress toward surgical equity by fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing among clinicians, researchers, policymakers, caregivers, and communities worldwide. We aim to highlight research that identifies gaps, validates scalable solutions, and generates evidence to inform policy and practice—thereby supporting the development of effective strategies to overcome persistent disparities in pediatric surgery.

The scope of this Research Topic encompasses a wide range of research and perspectives related to pediatric surgical care in all geographical and economic contexts, with emphasis on work that addresses the needs of LMICs and marginalized populations. To gather further insights in global pediatric surgery, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
• Epidemiology and burden of surgical conditions in children, including congenital anomalies, trauma, malignancy, and noncommunicable surgical conditions
• Health systems research: workforce capacity, surgical infrastructure, supply chains, referral networks, and financing models that enable equitable access
• Innovations in training and task-sharing: curriculum development, competency-based education, simulation, mentorship, and remote learning tailored to LMIC contexts
• Context-appropriate technologies and device innovation for pediatric surgery, including low-cost instrumentation, anesthesia equipment, and perioperative monitoring
• Quality improvement, patient safety, and perioperative protocols adapted for resource-variable settings (such as pre-operative optimization, infection prevention, and post-operative care)
• Surgical outcomes research addressing short- and long-term functional outcomes, morbidity, mortality, quality of life, and cost-effectiveness
• Implementation science and scalable models for service delivery
• Ethical, policy, and equity analyses addressing access disparities, prioritization, and culturally responsive care
• Data systems and research methods: registries, surveillance, standardized outcome metrics, and pragmatic trials relevant to global pediatric surgery

We welcome original research, systematic reviews, policy evaluations, clinical trials, case studies with lessons for systems, and perspectives on research priorities and global strategies.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: global pediatric surgery, congenital anomalies, surgical workforce, task-sharing, capacity building, perioperative care, implementation science, health equity, outcomes

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.