Kathryn’s work focuses on improving access to surgical care, including for emergency surgical conditions, in low- or middle-income countries, predominately in sub-Saharan Africa. She has led and co-led multiple international funded projects to improve equitable access to injury care in low- and middle-income countries. She has operational and governance experience in humanitarian and disaster medicine as a surgeon, epidemiologist, and former Vice-President for Medecins Sans Frontieres-Southern Africa board. She is a Technical Advisor for the WHO Integrated Clinical Care group and Professor of Global Surgery and the Director for the Centre for Global Surgery at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She is a board certified general and colorectal surgeon and holds a Master’s in Public Health in Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
A systems approach to understanding injury care in LMICs using causal loop diagrams
Justine Davies, Kathryn Chu, Lucia D’Ambruoso, Laura Bojke, Rene English, Heike Geduld, Sa’Ad Lahri, Hassan Mahomed, et al. · BMJ Global Health · Jun 1, 2026
BACKGROUND: Around 40% of mortality after injuries is avoidable with access to quality care. Investments in interventions which maximise the number of injured persons who access and receive quality care are paramount, especially in low-resourced settings. Selecting such interventions within complex adaptive health systems is challenging due to the multiple interactions within these systems. METHODS: We created a conceptual map, or causal loop diagram (CLD), representing the health system for injury care, focused on challenges to improving patient outcomes in low- or middle-income countries (LM...
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2025-023069
Factors Contributing to Delays to Accessing Appendectomy in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries: A Scoping Review
Johnelize Louw, Michael McCaul, René English, Peter S. Nyasulu, Justine Davies, C. Fourie, J. Jassat, Kathryn Chu · World Journal of Surgery · Sep 25, 2023
BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is one of the most common emergency surgical conditions worldwide. Delays in accessing appendectomy can lead to complications. Evidence on these delays in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is lacking. The aim of this review was to identify and synthesise the available evidence on delays to accessing appendectomy in LMICs. METHODS: This scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Extension for Scoping Reviews framework. The delays and their interconnectivity in LMICs were synthesised and interpreted using the Thr...
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-023-07183-2
Governance for injury care systems in Ghana, South Africa and Rwanda: development and pilot testing of an assessment tool
Maria Lisa Odland, Abdul-Malik Abdul-Latif, Agnieszka Ignatowicz, Abebe Bekele, Kathryn Chu, Anthony Howard, Stephen Tabiri, Jean Claude Byiringiro, et al. · BMJ Open · Sep 1, 2023
OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate health systems governance for injury care in three sub-Saharan countries from policymakers' and injury care providers' perspectives. SETTING: Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa. DESIGN: 's framework for governance, we developed an online assessment tool for health system governance for injury with 37 questions covering health policy and implementation under 10 overarching principles of strategic vision, participation and consensus orientation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness of institutions, equity, effectiveness or efficiency, accountability, ethi...
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-074088
Prioritising and mapping barriers to achieve equitable surgical care in South Africa: a multi-disciplinary stakeholder workshop
Tamlyn Mac Quene, Luné Smith, Maria Lisa Odland, Susan Levine, Lucia D’Ambruoso, Justine Davies, Kathryn Chu · Global Health Action · Jun 22, 2022
Background Surgical healthcare in South Africa is inequitable with a considerable lack of resources in the public health sector. Identifying barriers to care and creating research priorities to mitigate these barriers can contribute to strategic interventions to improve equitable access to quality surgical care.Objective To use the Four Delays Framework to map barriers to surgical care and identify priorities to achieve equitable and timely access to quality surgical care in South Africa.Methods A multi-disciplinary stakeholder workshop was held in Cape Town, South Africa in January 2020. A Fo...
https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2022.2067395
Building Research Capacity in Africa: Equity and Global Health Collaborations
Kathryn Chu, Sudha Jayaraman, Patrick Kyamanywa, Georges Ntakiyiruta · PLoS Medicine · Mar 11, 2014
PointsN Global health has increased the number of high-income country (HIC) investigators conducting research in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).N Partnerships with local collaborators rather than extractive research are needed.N LMICs have to take an active role in leading or directing these research collaborations in order to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm of inherently inequitable relationships.N This essay explores lessons from effective and equitable relationships that exist between African countries and HICs.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001612
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