National Surgical & Health Policy Atlas
A continuously updated global repository of National Surgical Plans (NSPs) and National Health Plans (NHPs) with surgical considerations — mapping policy coverage across all WHO regions.
Global NSP / NHP Status
Switch the map between policy documents, WHO region, World Bank income level, and national health financing. All countries appear on contextual maps; diagonal stripes mark countries with NSP or NHP documents in this repository.
Policy Documents
Economy & financing combines World Bank income, GNI, development status, and health spending data. Disciplines are automated keyword tags from PDF text and should be confirmed through full document review. Years lists the catalogue year per document; countries with both NSP and NHP show two years—one per file.
| Country | Region | Economy & financing | Disciplines | Documents | Access |
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Methods & Sources
This atlas distinguishes between policy documents held in the repository and contextual information drawn from external sources. Countries are shown as having an NSP or NHP only when the relevant document is available here, while the filters provide additional background on economic context, health financing, and surgical content.
WHO Regions
WHO region groupings are drawn from the World Health Organization countries and areas by WHO region dataset, as processed by Our World in Data. This is used only as a geographic classification for the map and filters; it does not imply formal WHO affiliation or endorsement of this repository.
Income & Development
Income group and GNI per capita are drawn from World Bank country classifications. Development status is presented as a simple interpretive grouping: high-income economies are listed as developed, countries on the United Nations Least Developed Countries list are listed as least developed, and other classified economies are listed as developing.
Health Financing
Health financing is based on World Bank data describing the government share of current health expenditure. Countries with a larger government share are grouped as public/government financed, countries with a lower government share are grouped as private-dominated, and countries between these ranges are shown as mixed financing systems.
Surgical Disciplines
Surgical discipline filters are generated by scanning uploaded policy documents for discipline-related terms, including anesthesia, nursing, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, trauma, pediatrics, and plastics. These tags are intended to help readers find relevant documents, but they should not be treated as a final expert classification without full review of the document.
Africa NSP Context
For African NSP development and renewal context, we refer to Bekele et al. (2023), National Surgical Healthcare Policy Development and Implementation: Where do We Stand in Africa? This paper is used as a scholarly reference for interpretation and context; it is not uploaded as a repository document or used to replace the document-availability status shown on the map.
How the Repository Stays Living
Anyone with knowledge of their country's latest policy can contribute in under 10 minutes.
Submit via Form
Submit your country's NSP or NHP via PDF or URL. Anonymous submission supported for sensitive roles or regions.
Regional Review
2–3 expert reviewers per WHO region validate and assign manuscript status categories within 20 days.
Map Updates
Verified documents are published during fortnightly review cycles, tapering to monthly in the sustainment phase.
Join the Network
Contributors may join our Global NSP Hub-and-Spokes Network and connect with surgical policy champions worldwide.
Update Your Country's Surgical Policy
Know about a recent NSP or NHP in your country? Help keep this global repository current. All contributions are reviewed by regional experts before publication.
- Submit a PDF document or a direct URL link
- Anonymous submission available for sensitive roles or regions
- Receive a personal letter of thanks for your contribution
- Stay updated on new policies and collaboration opportunities
- 6-month internal policy review cycle ensures ongoing accuracy