Article Text
Abstract
Although cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, six billion people lack access to safe, timely and affordable cardiac surgical care when needed. The burden of cardiovascular disease and disparities in access to care vary widely based on sociodemographic characteristics, including but not limited to geography, sex, gender, race, ethnicity, indigeneity, socioeconomic status and age. To date, the majority of cardiovascular, global health and global surgical research has lacked intersectionality lenses and methodologies to better understand access to care at the intersection of multiple identities and traditions. As such, global (cardiac) surgical definitions and health system interventions have been rooted in reductionism, focusing, at most, on singular sociodemographic characteristics. In this article, we evaluate barriers in global access to cardiac surgery based on existing intersectionality themes and literature. We further examine intersectionality methodologies to study access to cardiovascular care and cardiac surgery and seek to redefine the definition of ‘global cardiac surgery’ through an intersectionality lens.
- Surgery
- Cardiology
- Health policy
- feminism
- social anthropology
Data availability statement
Data sharing not applicable as no datasets generated and/or analysed for this study. Not applicable.
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Data availability statement
Data sharing not applicable as no datasets generated and/or analysed for this study. Not applicable.
Footnotes
Twitter @DVervoort94, @karlayaelh
Contributors DV: conception and design; analysis and interpretation; writing the article; critical revision of the article, guarantor. LAE: analysis and interpretation; writing the article; critical revision of the article. MS: analysis and interpretation; writing the article; critical revision of the article. KYHM: analysis and interpretation; writing the article; critical revision of the article. KK: analysis and interpretation; writing the article; critical revision of the article. All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.