Demographics of patients affected by surgical disease in rural hospitals in two sub-Saharan African countries: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Awareness is growing of both the importance of surgical disease as a major cause of death and disability in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and the cost-effectiveness of fairly simple surgical interventions. We hypothesised that surgical disease predominantly affects young adults and is therefore significant in both the macroeconomic effect of untreated disease and the microeconomic effects on patients and families in low-resource settings.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all admission data from two rural government district hospitals, Bo District Hospital in Sierra Leone and Thyolo District Hospital in Malawi.