The 3rd Pan African Surgical Healthcare Forum (PASHeF 2025)
From Policy to Practice- Expanding Africa’s Multidisciplinary
Surgical Workforce
What Works in Africa?”
November 5 - 7
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Focus for PASHeF 2025
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Theme: From Policy to Practice — Expanding Africa’s Multidisciplinary Surgical Workforce
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Primary focus: Health Workforce
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Cross-cutting lens: Health Financing (as it affects the workforce)
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Context: Builds on progress reports for National Surgical Healthcare Plans in Africa and a session on consensus progress, next steps, and enabling partnerships (including WHO AFRO), aligned with WHO Health System Building Blocks.
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What we’ll tackle: Practical measures to train, retain, and equitably distribute surgical providers; moving cleft-care policies from prevention to care and follow-up into practice.
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Alignment: 2024 roadmap consensus (items 8 & 9) and 2023 consensus statements 10, 16, 30–34.
Themes and Highlights
The conference will host discussions, key plenaries, and breakout rooms on:
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Reports from member states on progress on national surgical healthcare planning
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The road to the African Union
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Surgical workforce mapping, training pipelines, and equitable distribution
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Collegiate-led capacity building for nurses, anesthesia providers, and surgeons
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Gender, equity, and task sharing innovations
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Financing strategies: domestic resource mobilization, multilateral support, and public/private partnerships
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Addressing aid diplomacy and aligning donor strategies with national surgical plans
Country-led presentations will spotlight innovative workforce and financing models, including Rwanda’s “4-by-4” initiative, task-shifting in Zambia, and diaspora engagement in Kenya.