As the president of the Neurosurgical Society of Uganda, I would like to start by welcoming you to our website. On this website, you will find information about who we are, what we do, and the successes we have achieved. We also hope you will be able to appreciate the numerous challenges we face. Few, if any, of the fields in our health service present the same level of challenge the way the field of neurosurgery does.
To begin with, Uganda has only 17 neurosurgeons. This results in a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:2,600,000, far below the World Health Organization recommendation of 1:100,000. This has left large swathes of our population with no access to life-saving neurosurgical care. And yet, our neurosurgical disease burden has continued to increase over the last ten years.
The Neurosurgical Society of Uganda (NSU) was founded five years ago to confront these challenges. Our vision is to transform the practice of neurosurgery by making it more accessible and widening the scope of what we can do within the country. In our short existence, we have established NSU as a viable entity with a growing membership and created an established secretariat. We have also been able to start two training programs that are producing locally trained neurosurgeons, which had previously been a significant bottleneck in making our services more accessible. We aim to increase our number to 30 neurosurgeons by 2030.
But our dream will only grow if we can attract the right partnerships. We pray that you shall be inspired by the work we have done and the vision we hold to join and partner with us. As an organization, we see you as a vital link in achieving our dreams. We believe that together no mountain will be too high and no valley too deep. And that the synergy we find in each other will allow us to make a legacy for all who come after us.
As NSU, we have committed ourselves to achieving this objective. I am sure you will too. Enjoy your journey through our website; we look forward to partnering with you.