Strengthening Surgical Systems Through Research, Policy and Implementation
The Surgical Work and Equity Lab (SWEL) is an African health policy think tank advancing research, policy, and implementation to strengthen surgical systems across the continent.
About the Lab
The Surgical Work and Equity Lab (SWEL) is an African health policy think tank advancing research, policy, and implementation to strengthen surgical systems across the continent.
We work with researchers, governments, healthcare institutions, and professional associations to translate evidence into practical solutions that improve workforce development, health systems performance, and patient outcomes.
Our Core Programmes
SWEL's work is organised around the three elements that make up any surgical system - the workers who deliver care, the patients who receive it, and the systems that hold both together. Each is a standing programme of research, policy, and advocacy.
Surgical Workforce
This programme explores and provides reforms that support the surgical workforce, advocate for excellent training and workplace environments and infrastructure that enhances surgical care delivery.
Surgical Systems
This programme studies how surgical care is financed, governed and built into national health systems. It houses SWEL's flagship work on surgical financing, its analysis of national surgical planning, and its contributions to the data and governance infrastructure through which surgical systems are measured and improved. This is where the Lab's central thesis lives: that strong, self-sustaining systems are the foundation everything else depends on.
Patients
Promoting safe, timely, affordable and patient-centred surgical care by addressing barriers to access, amplifying patient perspectives and advancing equity in surgical outcomes.
Latest Think Pieces
The Field That Was Hiding in Plain Sight
Almost a third of the world’s illness can be treated with surgery, yet global health long ignored it. Here’s what global surgery is and why it matters.
Kenya Just Made Surgery a National Promise
In 2026, Kenya launched its first National Surgical Services Strategic Plan. Here’s what it means for patients, how it fits Africa’s NSOAP wave, and why it matters.
SWEL Learning
Capacity building resources for global surgery researchers, advocates and practitioners working within Africa's surgical ecosystem.
Explore SWEL Learning