As the global burden of disease shifts from communicable to non-communicable diseases and trauma-related debility, the global health-care community has increasingly advocated for equitable access to surgical services. Much of this attention has focused on bolstering clinical and research expertise through the expansion of clinical training programmes and research resources. However, despite the crucial role of equipment, including medical devices, in safe clinical care, comparatively little attention has been paid to sustainably bridging the biomedical and technical gaps that exist in global health. Although closing these gaps with locally driven solutions is the goal, the reality in many settings is that partnerships between institutions in high-income countries and low-income and middle-income countries currently remain necessary. Thus, this Viewpoint provides guidelines conscious to biomedical engineering for institutions looking to expand or begin global health initiatives with the Partners In Health Five S's-staff, stuff, space, systems, and social support-framework for health systems strengthening as a guide. We focus first on initiatives involving staff, stuff, and space, encouraging institutions to ask, listen, and enable, through a set of questions and actionable recommendations. Then, we urge institutions to strengthen systems and social support, underscoring the need for wider societal scaffolding to support and sustain initiatives beyond initial efforts.

中文翻译：

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机器也很重要：包括全球健康计划中的生物医学工程合作伙伴关系。


随着全球疾病负担从传染性疾病转变为非传染性疾病和与创伤相关的虚弱，全球卫生保健界越来越多地倡导公平获得外科服务。这种关注主要集中在通过扩大临床培训计划和研究资源来加强临床和研究专业知识。然而，尽管包括医疗设备在内的设备在安全的临床护理中发挥着关键作用，但相对较少地关注可持续地弥合全球健康中存在的生物医学和技术差距。尽管通过本地驱动的解决方案来缩小这些差距是目标，但在许多情况下的现实是，高收入国家与低收入和中等收入国家之间的机构之间的伙伴关系目前仍然必要。因此，本观点为希望扩大或开始全球健康计划的机构提供了具有生物医学工程意识的指南，这些机构以健康五 S 合作伙伴的员工、物品、空间、系统和社会支持框架为指导，以加强卫生系统。我们首先关注涉及员工、物品和空间的举措，通过一系列问题和可操作的建议，鼓励机构提出、倾听和促成。然后，我们敦促各机构加强系统和社会支持，强调需要更广泛的社会脚手架来支持和维持初始努力之外的举措。