Epidemiology and mortality of pediatric surgical conditions: insights from a tertiary center in Uganda

Prospective database review of 3,465 pediatric surgical admissions at a Ugandan tertiary center reveals high burden of congenital anomalies (38.6% of cases) with substantially elevated mortality compared to high-income countries—gastroschisis mortality reached 90.1%. Over half of admissions were infants under one year, highlighting the critical need for neonatal surgical capacity and quality improvement initiatives in low-resource settings.