Policy & Advocacy

Millions of people live in countries where surgical care exists, but the policies and financing to sustain it do not. Procedures are performed, systems are built, and evidence is generated, but without the political will, public awareness, and funding architecture to support them, even the best surgical programmes cannot reach the people who need them most

The Policy and Advocacy Lab is the public-facing engine of the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, translating the program's research, fellows, and partnerships into concrete influence on the legislative, regulatory, and financing decisions that determine who gets care and who does not. Through strategic communications, evidence synthesis, and direct engagement with policymakers and advocates, the Lab equips those with the power to act with the tools they need: concrete examples, analytical frameworks, and cross-sector partnerships that make country-owned surgical financing strategies not just possible, but fundable. Because evidence alone does not change policy. Advocacy does.