More surgeons need to be trained to give the world’s poor access to safe and affordable surgical procedures. That’s the view of a new study published in The Lancet, with the authors estimating that around five billion people on Earth do not have access to safe and affordable surgery. Training more surgeons would help alleviate the problem, improving the condition of life for significant numbers of adults and children across the world.

It estimates that it some regions of the world – sub-Saharan Africa, for example – around 93% of the local population do not have access to surgical treatment.

The study was created with the help from over 25 experts across the world, who estimate that around $420bn (£300 bn) is needed to help rectify the situation.

One of the authors, Andy Leather, said: “People are dying and living with disabilities that could be avoided if they had good surgical treatment[…]Also, more and more people are being pushed into poverty trying to access surgical care.”