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The key to humanitarian urology: do not import the surgeon, create trained local surgical teams

Nature Reviews Urology volume 22, pages 188–189 (2025)Cite this article

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Humanitarian surgical missions provide substantial benefits to the involved surgeon and to the recipient communities. These missions should be planned and executed with the final aim to train local teams to implement innovative or standard surgical techniques.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, VITHAS Hospitals, Valencia, Spain

    J. Rubio-Briones

  2. Department of Urology, Fundació Puigvert, Barcelona, Spain

    A. Gallioli

Authors
  1. J. Rubio-Briones
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  2. A. Gallioli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Rubio-Briones.

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Competing interests

J.R.-B. is the President of Surg For All, a non-governmental organization involved in teaching surgery in West Africa. A.G. declares no competing interests.

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Related links

Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation: https://hamlin.org.au/

Surg For All: https://surgforall.org/

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Rubio-Briones, J., Gallioli, A. The key to humanitarian urology: do not import the surgeon, create trained local surgical teams. Nat Rev Urol 22, 188–189 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-025-01003-z

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