Lagos: Prof. Adesoji Ademuyiwa, the Nigeria Hub Director of the National Institute for Health Research Global Surgery Unit (NIHR GSU), has highlighted the transformative impact the organization has had on surgical research, training, and patient care in Nigeria over the past decade.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the NIHR GSU Nigeria Hub has been dedicated to advancing surgical research and care nationwide. Beyond research, the organization aims to shape the future of surgical care by investing in the next generation of healthcare professionals. Ademuyiwa, a Professor of Surgery at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, noted that the hub began collaborating with foreign institutions like the University of Birmingham and the University of Edinburgh in 2016. The funding rounds for this collaboration are set to conclude this month.
“Our work has spanned about 10 years; 10 years of medical impact, achievements, and successes. During these 10 years, we have recorded a lot,” stated Ademuyiwa. Before the establishment of NIHR Global Surgery Unit, Nigeria primarily conducted single-institution retrospective studies due to a lack of funding for larger, prospective, randomized controlled trials. NIHR supported the first international, multi-centre, randomized controlled trial in surgery involving Nigerian surgeons.
Ademuyiwa detailed several prominent trials and studies undertaken by the organization, such as the FALCON trial, which targeted the recruitment of 5,788 participants, with Nigeria contributing 2,165 participants, representing 37.4% of the total. The CHEETAH trial followed, with a recruitment target of 12,800 participants. Nigeria contributed 2,679 participants, representing 20.1% of the total. The PENGUIN trial, another significant project, aimed to recruit 12,942 participants globally, with Nigeria included among the locations.
The organization has also conducted several other trials, including GlobalSurg 1, GlobalSurg 2, COVIDSurg, ASOS-Paeds, the HIPPO study, the CAMELs study, and Enhanced Monitoring Using Sensors After Surgery (EMUs). These studies have been instrumental in recommending changes to surgical practices, such as the incorporation of glove and instrument changes before fascia and skin closure to reduce surgical site infections.
Prof. Ademuyiwa praised the unique collaborative efforts that involve Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) partners in research projects from conception to publication, enhancing research capacity. This model contrasts with previous models where High-Income Country (HIC) partners organized surgical outreach without sufficient investment in LMIC capacity building.
The NIHR GSU collaboration has also emphasized capacity building, training over 500 surgeons and residents in good clinical practice and research, and educating 600 community health workers in stoma care and surgical site infection identification. Additionally, 100 medical students have been trained in data management, 150 in laparoscopic skills, and over 1,000 others have been mentored through a medical student-led conference.
Despite facing challenges, the hub has overcome them with support from the University of Lagos, its College of Medicine, and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, which provided essential facilities for the data centre, simulation centre, and research office.