{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T10:39:56Z","timestamp":1792492796458,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":14,"publisher":"Wiley","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792454400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1792454400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["World j. surg."],"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Global child health is at an inflection point. Under\u2010five mortality has fallen substantially over recent decades, yet progress is slowing and preventable deaths and disability remain concentrated in low\u2010 and middle\u2010income countries. As mortality from vaccine\u2010preventable diseases and other infections declines, birth defects and other surgically treatable conditions account for an increasing share of the residual burden. For many children, access to timely, safe and affordable surgical, anesthesia and perioperative care is the difference between survival, disability and death. Yet these services remain insufficiently embedded in child health policy, service delivery and universal health coverage. Children's surgery should therefore be understood not as a peripheral specialty, but as an essential component of integrated services to improve child health outcomes. Congenital anomalies make this case clear. Outcomes for surgically treatable conditions differ starkly by setting, reflecting inequities in early recognition, safe referral, anesthesia, operative and postoperative care, infection prevention, and follow\u2010up. The same services are also required for injuries, burns, surgical infections, complications of sickle cell disease and acute abdominal emergencies. Strengthening them would extend well beyond specialist surgery; it would build the capacity of health systems to respond to some of the most time\u2010sensitive and disabling conditions affecting children. Recent World Health Assembly resolutions on operative care, universal health coverage and newborn screening provide a clear mandate for action. The next phase of the global child survival agenda must recognize children's surgical care as an essential service to be planned, adequately financed and routinely monitored. Integrating surgical, anesthesia, perioperative and rehabilitation care into child health programmes is critical to avert preventable deaths, reduce lifelong disability, protect families from catastrophic costs and ensure that children everywhere have the opportunity not only to survive but also to thrive.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/wjs.70617","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T10:00:38Z","timestamp":1792490438000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Children's Surgery: The Missing Link in the Global Child Survival Agenda"],"prefix":"10.1002","author":[{"given":"Ayesha","family":"De Costa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing World Health Organization  Geneva Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lee","family":"Wallis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Performance, Financing and Delivery Department World Health Organization  Geneva Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","volume-title":"Child Mortality and Causes of Death","author":"World Health Organization","year":"2024"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","volume-title":"Congenital Disorders","author":"World Health Organization","year":"2023"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","volume-title":"Levels & Trends in Child Mortality: Report 2020","author":"United Nations Inter\u2010Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation","year":"2020"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.18356\/9789211065275","volume-title":"Levels & Trends in Child Mortality: Report 2024","author":"United Nations Inter\u2010Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation","year":"2024"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2471\/blt.18.216028"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjpo\u20102022\u2010001603"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_8_1","volume-title":"March of Dimes Global Report on Birth Defects: The Hidden Toll of Dying and Disabled Children","author":"Christianson A.","year":"2006"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjph\u20102024\u2010001608"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140\u20106736(21)00767\u20104"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00383\u2010020\u201004813\u2010x"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_12_1","volume-title":"Resolution WHA68","author":"World Health Assembly","year":"2015"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_13_1","volume-title":"Resolution WHA76","author":"World Health Assembly","year":"2023"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_14_1","volume-title":"Resolution WHA77.5","author":"World Health Assembly","year":"2024"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_15_1","volume-title":"Strengthening Capacity for Newborn Screening, Diagnosis and Management of Birth Defects: WHO Technical Consultation on Planning and Implementing Services Integrated into National Health Systems in Low\u2010 and Middle\u2010Income Countries","author":"World Health Organization","year":"2026"}],"container-title":["World Journal of Surgery"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1002\/wjs.70617","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1002\/wjs.70617","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1002\/wjs.70617","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]],"date-time":"2026-10-20T10:00:40Z","timestamp":1792490440000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/wjs.70617"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]]},"references-count":14,"alternative-id":["10.1002\/wjs.70617"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/wjs.70617","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["0364-2313","1432-2323"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0364-2313","type":"print"},{"value":"1432-2323","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,20]]},"article-number":"wjs.70617"}}