At the Global Surgery Foundation, we work to ensure that every dollar donated drives meaningful, measurable change for people and communities in low- and middle-income countries. We track our progress against these core indicators:
Healthcare Workers Strengthened
Surgical, anaesthesia, obstetric and nursing professionals trained, mentored, or supported through GSF-funded work.
Patients Reached with Improved Surgical Care
Patients who benefited from improved surgical care at supported facilities. For maternal-health projects, each birth counts two — the mother and, on average, one newborn.
Population with Improved Access to Surgical Care
People living in the catchment areas of the facilities GSF strengthens — those now within reach of safer surgical care.
Facilities Strengthened
Health facilities receiving structured support: training, equipment, mentoring, or quality improvement.
Methodology & Notes
What you see. Numbers are aggregated across the selected projects and years. Core indicators (healthcare workers strengthened, patients reached, facilities strengthened, population with improved surgical access) come from activity logs and quarterly returns. Quality indicators are quarterly cumulative figures collected from each supported facility.
Figures are actuals achieved. For the current and future years — where results aren't in yet — the figure shown is the year's goal (clearly labelled). This snapshot reports outcomes, so progress-against-target is not shown. Goals are set at the start of each year and may be revised mid-year following programme reviews.
⚠ Beta data & selected datasets. This is a beta version of the GSF programme dashboard, and it shows selected data sets only — not all programme data. Figures are regularly updated and may differ slightly from the official final numbers while we continue testing and refining the methodology. For confirmed figures, please contact the GSF team.
How the figures in this snapshot are collected, calculated, and reported.
⚠ Beta data — read this first
This snapshot is generated from a beta version of the GSF programme dashboard, and it includes selected data sets only — not all programme data. Data is updated continually and may differ slightly from the official final figures while the methodology is still being refined. For confirmed figures or queries about specific numbers, please contact the GSF team directly.
01 / What this snapshot shows
Numbers are aggregated across the projects, years, and indicators selected at the time of export. Each project's contribution sums into the headline organisation totals. Hidden projects (where the export was filtered) still contribute to those totals — they only disappear from the project list and map.
02 / Headline numbers
Each figure is the actual achieved for that year. For the current year and future years — where results aren't in yet — the figure shown is the year's goal, clearly labelled. To keep this snapshot focused on outcomes, progress-against-target (bars and percentages) is intentionally not shown.
03 / Core indicators
Healthcare workers strengthened — surgical, anaesthesia, obstetric, paediatric and nursing professionals trained, mentored, or supported through GSF-funded interventions. Counted at activity level; "new" sub-counts deduplicate workers across activities within the same year.
Patients reached with improved surgical care — patients estimated to have benefited from improved care at supported facilities during the reporting period. For maternal-health projects, 2 patients are counted per birth — the mother and, on average, one newborn.
Facilities strengthened — health facilities receiving structured support (training, equipment, mentoring, quality improvement) during the period.
Population with improved access to surgical care — catchment population of the supported facilities, taken from facility-level catchment estimates.
04 / Quality indicators
Quality figures are reported quarterly and shown cumulative within the year — Q1 covers Jan–Mar, Q2 covers Jan–Jun, and so on, so the Q4 value equals the annual total. Improvement is measured against a project-set baseline (the pre-intervention value).
MMR & NMR (maternal & neonatal mortality) — recorded as rates per 100,000 live births / per 1,000 live births at supported maternity facilities.
SSI rate (surgical site infection) — percentage of surgeries with documented SSI within 30 days.
SSC utilisation (WHO Surgical Safety Checklist) — percentage of operations where the full checklist was completed.
05 / Targets & revisions
Targets are set at the start of each year by each project lead and aggregated to the organisation level. They may be revised mid-year after programme reviews; revisions are reflected in the next sync. Historical targets are not retrospectively edited.
06 / Data sources
Activity logs entered by country and project leads (events, training, site visits).
Quarterly submissions from each supported facility (quality indicators).
Economic context constants: WHO cost-effectiveness threshold (3× GDP per capita), Lancet/DCP3 effect sizes for deaths-averted calculations, World Bank GDP per capita.
07 / Known limitations
Patient and population figures rely on facility catchment estimates; uncertainty is wider for newly-onboarded facilities.
"New this year" HCW counts are entered by the activity logger; we do not yet cross-check identifiers across projects.
Economic impact estimates (deaths averted, DALYs, cost-per-DALY) use literature effect sizes and should be read as point estimates, not measured outcomes.
Questions about a specific figure? Contact the GSF team using the address on the GSF letterhead.
