Strengthening Surgical Services at the Soum (First-referral) Hospital: The WHO Emergency and Essential Surgical Care (EESC) Program in Mongolia

Background Provision of surgical care continues to receive little attention and funding despite the growing burden of surgical disease worldwide. In 2004, The World Health Organization (WHO) established the Emergency and Essential Surgical Care (EESC) program, which was designed to strengthen surgical services at the first-referral hospital. There are limited data documenting the implementation and scale-up of such services. We describe the nationwide implementation of the EESC program in Mongolia over a 6 year period.