About SWEL
The Surgical Work and Equity Lab (SWEL) is an African think tank dedicated to generating evidence and innovating ideas and programs that strengthen Africa's surgical ecosystem including its people, systems and patients. By combining research, policy analysis, and advocacy, SWEL aims to uncover the structural and human factors that shape surgical care delivery and use these insights to inform context-specific solutions.
SWEL's name embodies its dual purpose: Surgical Work — we are committed to understanding and bettering surgical care — the people that deliver it, the systems that shape it and the patients who experience it. Surgical Equity— the lab's mission and goals will always be bound by equity. We aim to ensure that systems, workers and patients coexist in a humane, inclusive and supportive environment.
The Challenge We Address
Africa carries a disproportionate share of the world's surgical disease burden yet has the fewest trained surgeons, anaesthetists, and obstetricians per capita. An estimated 5 billion people globally lack access to safe, timely, and affordable surgical care — the majority of them in low- and middle-income countries. Closing this gap requires more than resources; it demands evidence, policy reform, and systems-level thinking grounded in local contexts.
Our Story
SWEL draws inspiration from the word swell, the long, unbroken growing wave that is created by an initial short weather phenomenon. These waves travel over long distances even long after the initiating event has disappeared.
The Lab was born from the recognition that Africa's surgical system, its people, its structures and its patients deserve to be studied, understood and reimagined with much more depth and intention. SWEL exists at a time when sustainability depends less on external assistance and more on the strength of local systems, people and ideas.
And it carries a promise: that once the work begins, it will not fall still when the first push is over. Like a swell, our work and impact is built to keep going for generations.
To examine and reform surgical ecosystems (workers, patients and systems) through an equity-centred lens, by:
- Conducting and amplifying evidence-based research that focuses on the global surgery ecosystem
- Facilitating policy dialogue among key stakeholders.
- Using policy to drive advocacy work and eventually surgical work
Our dream is to build a self-sustaining surgical ecosystem where research, policy and advocacy are used to create systems that are equitable and responsive to the needs of patients, workers and institutions alike.
Core Values
Equity
We believe in a surgical system where everyone interacts with surgical work in equitable ways. Where access, opportunity and outcomes are not shaped by gender, geography or hierarchy, but by fairness and dignity.
Creativity
We embrace innovation and bold thinking, transforming complex challenges into actionable ideas that advance equity in global surgery.
Sustainability
We champion a system that is self sustaining. One that can thrive beyond donor changes and funding cycles.
Meet the Board
More board members to be announced.
SWEL Learning
Capacity building resources for global surgery researchers, advocates and practitioners working within Africa's surgical ecosystem.
Explore SWEL Learning