Are the SDGs leaving safer surgical systems behind?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has set out its new aims for the post-2015 global agenda in the form of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Discussions around the historically neglected role of emergency and essential surgical interventions in global health has attracted widespread attention with the help of well-timed, high-profile reports including the Lancet Commission for Global Surgery [1]. The case for promoting safe surgery is clear with evidence suggesting that at least two-thirds of the years of life lost globally will be attributed to surgical conditions by 2025 [1]. In 2010 alone, almost 17 million lives, and more than 70 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were lost due to surgically treatable conditions [1]. A central component of the SDGs is its renewed focus on health as a human right in the form of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). However, there are doubts as to how nations will be able to keep the 'promise of leaving no-one behind' without explicit reference to global surgery within the SDG framework [2].