Annual WiSA Event Announcement
Women in Surgical Research Grant “WiSURG”: Supporting Female Surgeons and Trainees to Conduct Impactful Research in the ECSA Region
2025 WiSURG Grant
WISA, RCSI, COSECSA and J&J Foundation
Background
The WiSURG programme is a collaborative effort aimed at fostering increased participation of female surgeons and surgical trainees in high quality clinical research in the East, Central and Southern African (ECSA) region. While female enrolment to the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) has increased, there remains a need to continue to encourage greater female choice of surgery as a career, greater female representation in surgical leadership and increased participation of female surgeons in research activities. Authorship in the “global surgery” literature is predominantly male worldwide, but this disparity is significantly more pronounced in low- and middle-income countries (Ravi et al., 2021). Ultimately, the development of the next generation of female leaders in surgical research and practice in the COSECSA region will contribute towards building an expanded, enhanced surgical workforce providing more high-quality surgical care for populations in East, Central and Southern Africa. There is also a great need for translation of clinical data into sound research that will subsequently inform local and regional policy with regards to safe and sustainable surgery in the ECSA region. Women in Surgery Africa (WiSA) is deeply committed to supporting women to conduct quality, impactful surgical research (Odera, Tierney, Mangaoang, Mugwe, & Sanfey, 2019). The long-term goal of WiSURG is to provide a framework for emerging and mid-career female surgical researchers to produce high-quality research, supported by grant funding, research methodology training, supervision and mentorship. Ultimately the research produced will benefit the surgical patient in ECSA region.
WiSA operates under the auspices of COSECSA. COSECSA recognises the importance of supporting female trainees, Members and Fellows and has been a long term advocate for women surgeons. COSECSA has worked in close collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) since 2007. WiSA has been supported by the RCSI/COSECSA Collaboration from its conception to date.
The overall objective is to foster the development of the next generation of female leaders in surgical research and practice in the COSECSA region.
WiSA New Secretariat
Dear WiSA members, please give a warm welcome to our new Secretariat:
- Chair – Mumba Chalwe (Zambia)
- Vice Chair – Fortunate Mudede (Zimbabwe)
- Treasurer – Francoise Mukagaju (Rwanda)
- Secretary General – Patricia Shinondo (Zambia)
- Education and Research Officer – Mwamba Mulenga (Zambia)
- Administration Officer – Lydia Nanjula (Uganda)
WISA Progress report – December 2022
Dr. Agneta Odera
WiSA Chairperson
3rd Dec 2022
WiSA December 2022 Newsletter
Message from Outgoing WiSA Chair
It has been a great pleasure and privilege working with you and serving you as capacity as Chair in
the last couple of years.
In Dec 2019, I was asked to reconsider taking a second term as chair. This was a position that I took
up after thoughtful and careful consideration knowing how young WiSA was as an organization
and the expected great journey of growth ahead.
Women in Surgery Africa (WiSA) Strategic Plan 2023-2026 Survey
Women in Surgery Africa is currently preparing its 3rd Strategic Plan for 2023-2026.
To inform the planning, we are holding a consultation process. We would love to hear your views on how WiSA can best serve you and effectively fulfill our mandate.
You can have your say by completing our short survey below or submitting a written proposal to wisa@cosecsa.org.
DEADLINE: 30th April 2022
Quote for March 2022
“Reach out to other women today and tell them one positive and motivational thing that you wish you had known and needed to hear 1 year ago from this day. Let us continue to expand the boundaries that define the realm of possibilities for women today”
By Dr Busi Mlambo,
General surgeon.
Zimbabwe.
2022 ACS-COSECSA Women Examination Scholarship for the 2022 COSECSA Exams
The program is open to senior female surgical trainees who are preparing to take this fellowship level examination in 2022. The award will be used towards fellowship examination expenses, including fellowship examination, examination travel and accommodation, graduation, and five-year membership dues to COSECSA and ACS.
2022 ACS-COSECSA Scholarship
The program is open to junior female surgical trainees enrolling in the COSECSA surgical fellowship program. The usage of this award is to register into the fellowship program.