The theme is “Advancing Universal access towards Safe, Affordable & Timely Surgical Care.”

The sub-themes focus on current needs for ASOU members suggested from the 2023 Annual Scientific Confrence feedback poll, the various work/research done in the country, the role of Government, Civil society organisations, Private sector, academic institutions,

Professional associations and global surgery initiatives in supporting and advancing universal access to surgical health care in Uganda.

The Sub themes include:

Role of Global Surgery Initiatives

Harmonising multidisciplinary team work

• The National Surgical, Anesthesia & Obstetrics Plan ( team to present)
• Associate disciplines: Surgery & Anesthesia, Radiology, Nursing, Lab & Diagnostics, Public health

Advances in Surgical Care

• Surgical sub-specialties - MAS, SUGES, NSU, APRASU, ENT, OPTHALMOLOGY, OMF,

Surgical Training & Mentorship

Wellness: Welfare & Self care for Surgeons

• Longevity of a Surgical Career
• Surgical Business
• Preparation for Retirement

Note: PHD presentations will be made based on the sub themes.

ABSTRACT GUIDELINES

All abstracts must be submitted through the conference webpage and MedAll. Abstracts submitted via email or hard copies will not be accepted.

General Guide for submission:

1. Abstracts must be submitted in English

2. The deadline for abstracts submission is 17:00HRS, (EAT) on the 31st January 2024

3. Authors must indicate their preference for ORAL or POSTER presentation.

4. Abstracts must include the complete Surnames and First names of every author (indicating the presenter and the order of the authors), Institution, Country, and email address. The number of authors must not exceed 8 (eight)

5. All co-authors must agree with the results stated and have consented to be included as authors

6. You must mention if the material within your abstract has been presented at other national or international meetings.

7. The Scientific Committee assumes that studies involving humans or animals, or material derived from them, was approved by an institutional ethics committee, and you need to confirm this when submitting the abstract

8. Authors must specify any relationship (employment, consulting, fees, conference fees, classes, courses, commercial shares, or copyright) they may have with any organisation with direct or indirect financial interest in the topic or the materials dealt within the presentation. If there is a conflict of interest, authors must indicate this at the end of their abstract

9. Abstracts of empirical studies, secondary analysis, and systematic reviews should be structured as follows:

A. Background

B. AimsC. Methods (design, data collection, analysis) D. Results

E. Conclusion/Discussion

F. Global Surgery Significance

Abstracts for non-empirical work should be structured as follows: A. Aims or goal of the work

B. Design, methods and approach taken

C. Results

D. Conclusion/Lessons Learned

Online Abstract Submission

• Abstracts must be submitted by the Responsible Author who should ensure

the accuracy of the submission.

• The responsible author must submit the abstract via the abstract submission page, enabled on the conference website and MedAll. Please note abstracts will not be accepted by any other route including email.

• All abstracts and sections of the online submission form must be completed in order for your abstract to be submitted. Abstracts with the status of “Open” will not be reviewed or accepted for presentation.

• You will receive an email to confirm that your abstract has been submitted.

• For each abstract that you want to submit you should follow the steps on the website for submission.

• It is important that you follow all the instructions on the website carefully on the submission of your abstract if you do not it will not be submitted• The maximum of authors for each paper is 8 (eight)

• No changes are allowed in the list of authors or to the abstract itself after submission is completed.

• Authors should indicate the institution that they are affiliated to for the work being submitted

• The Abstracts have a word limit of 300 words which cannot be exceeded.

• Abstracts should not include tables, figures, or references.

If an author appears in more than one work, his first name and surname must appear in the same form to facilitate the correct record. By indicating the email of each author, we avoid ambiguities regarding identification.

• The system will send all the necessary notifications by e-mail to the Responsible Author

Please do check your spam folders if you are expecting an email but have not received it.

For reviewing and scheduling purposes, abstracts will be divided into thematic areas.

Please indicate in the box the appropriate thematic area to which your abstract belongs.

You will also be asked to indicate if the abstract has been presented at a national or international conference in the past

• The Scientific Committee will attempt to respect the authors’ option regarding their self assignment to a special topic, but it reserves the right to change the allocation in order to achieve a well-balanced scientific programme. Please also note that if you submit multiple abstracts as the presenting author it is unlikely that you will get all of them accepted as an oral presentation.

Please Note: If your abstract is not designated as “Completed” it has not been submitted and will not be reviewed

Review and And Notification of Acceptance / Rejection

1. All abstracts are peer reviewed and ranked by experts in the thematic area selected.

2. The Scientific Committee will make the final decision on the definite type of presentation.

3. All decisions made by the Scientific Committee are final and cannot be appealed.

4. All accepted abstracts will be published in the conference abstract book which will be available for download from the website.

5. Notification of acceptance/rejection will be emailed by latest 14th February 2024.

6. Accepted abstracts are official communications to the Conference; the presenting author must register at the time of acceptance.