Summary/Abstract
It is estimated that up to 28% of the global burden of disease may be amenable to surgical
treatment. The majority of affected individuals live in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
Globally, an additional 143 million surgical procedures are needed annually to meet the unmet
need of surgery, and a failure to expand surgical access to populations in need would result in a
total loss in gross-domestic product of 12.3 trillion dollars globally. Africa has one of the highest
burdens of untreated surgical problems. Moreover, a large proportion of those without access to
adequate surgical care are forcibly displaced persons and refugees who number 82 million and
25 million, respectively. Refugees face double the burden of surgical problems than non-refugee
populations in LMICs. The absence of comprehensive training programs in the implementation
science of surgery, rehabilitation, and humanitarian health creates a serious impediment to
research, evidence-based policy changes, and impactful changes. The proposed 2023-2028
Johns Hopkins University, Tanzania Red Cross Society and Muhimbili University School
of Public Health and Social Sciences Education and Mentoring Program On Surgical
Work and Rehabilitation in Tanzania (EMPOWER-TZ) will build on the expertise in surgery
and rehabilitation, humanitarian health, and health systems of Johns Hopkins, Muhimbili
University of Health and Allied Sciences, and the Tanzania Red Cross Society. EMPOWER-TZ
will strengthen research capacity to address the burden of surgical disease, short and long term
outcomes of surgery, and rehabilitation needs in humanitarian settings within Tanzania.
Specifically, we seek to better develop capacity to study post-surgery outcomes across lived
experiences and develop capacity and interdisciplinary teams to better study surgery and
rehabilitation sciences in humanitarian contexts. Our model will focus on using expertise at JHU
to strengthen the capacity within MUHAS, while simultaneously leveraging the vast experience
of TRCS in humanitarian health to provide both contextual expertise and hands-on training
opportunities in this program. Importantly, the focus areas and execution of this grant will be
done in full partnership. The goal is to promote an ethical, sustainable, and impactful
collaboration between the three institutions focused on building research capacity to study the
implementation science of surgery, rehabilitation, and humanitarian health.
