EAST and CENTRAL AFRICAN Journal of Surgery | VOLUME 24 | NUMBER 1 | APRIL 2019 3 journal.cosecsa.org Open Access PERSPECTIVE Building capacity for surgery, obstetrics and anesthesia in support of universal health coverage and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals Blake Alkire 1,2, Abebe Bekele 3,4, Isabelle Citron 2, Emmanuel M. Makasa 5,6, John G. Meara 2,7, Bisola Onajin-Obembe 8,9, Lauri Romanzi 10, Mpoki Ulisubisya 11 1. Although the third sustainable development goal (SDG) is the only goal wholly dedicated to health, 29 health-related targets are spread across 11 of the 17 goals, underscoring the vital role of health in realizing all the SDG' s. 1,2 Central to the achievement of the health-related SDGs is the call for universal health coverage (UHC) in SDG target 3.8. Unfortunately, the current unmet need for safe surgical, obstetric and anesthesia care remains critically high: five out of every seven people globally - and more than 90% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia - cannot receive safe, affordable surgery and anesthesia care when needed. 25 WHA68.15 identified five key surgical areas of focus - surgical and anesthesia workforce, information management, service delivery, essential medicines, advocacy, and resource development - and recognized the central role of surgery and anesthesia care in achieving universal health coverage; importantly, countries unanimously committed to improving their capacity to deliver surgical care at the district hospital level as a means to attaining UHC. [Extracted from the article]