NIHR Global Surgery Unit Marks 10 Years of Research Partnership, Strengthens Nigeria’s Surgical Care
The NIHR Global Surgery Unit (GSU) Nigeria Hub has marked a decade of collaboration with the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, a partnership credited with transforming surgical research, training and patient outcomes across Nigeria.
The anniversary celebration, held on Tuesday in Lagos, highlighted the hub’s role as a major driver of evidence-based surgical care, with a research network that now spans all six geopolitical zones of the country. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 36 institutions are formally involved in the network, while more than 50 participate in operational studies nationwide.
Speaking at the event, Dr Kamil Shoretire, Director of Health Planning, Research and Statistics at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, described the collaboration as highly impactful, noting that Nigerian institutions, led by the University of Lagos, had significantly benefited from sustained engagement with international research partners.
“It’s been a decade now, and Nigeria has gained a lot from conducting research with international groups,” Shoretire said, adding that the partnership had strengthened national research capacity and global visibility.
The Hub Director, Prof. Adesoji Ademuyiwa, said the collaboration had fundamentally changed the landscape of surgical research in Nigeria, moving it from isolated, single-institution studies to large, multicentre international trials with stronger evidence and broader impact.
“Before this collaboration, we largely worked within single institutions,” Ademuyiwa said. “Now, we run multicentre international studies across over 30 centres nationwide, generating evidence that directly improves patient outcomes.”
He cited landmark findings from the FALCON and CHEETAH trials, which demonstrated that cheaper antiseptic and suction alternatives were as effective as expensive options, and that changing gloves and instruments during surgery could reduce surgical site infections by about 15 per cent.
Ademuyiwa also disclosed that the hub had established a data centre to train researchers in surgical data analysis and had recently launched a Master’s programme in Surgery, with plans to develop it into a joint degree between the University of Lagos and the University of Birmingham.
“This means that the same quality of education available in Birmingham can be accessed here in Lagos,” he said.
Also speaking, Prof. Adewale Adisa, Deputy Director of the NIHR GSU and a professor of surgery at the Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, said the collaboration had been instrumental in training students and resident doctors over the past ten years, leading to measurable improvements in surgical outcomes.
According to Adisa, the celebration also marked the official signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding to deepen future collaboration between the two universities.
From the University of Birmingham, Prof. Dion Morton, Barling Chair of Surgery, said the impact of the research extended beyond Nigeria, benefiting patients across West Africa, Europe and other parts of the world.
“The results generated here are relevant to every continent,” Morton said, adding that the partnership was also building a new generation of skilled surgical researchers.
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Similarly, the Provost of the University of Birmingham, Prof. Nick Vaughan-Williams, described the partnership as critical to addressing global surgical challenges, noting that the shared vision between the University of Lagos and the University of Birmingham had sustained the collaboration over the past decade.
As the NIHR Global Surgery Unit Nigeria Hub enters its second decade, stakeholders say the strengthened partnership positions Nigeria to play an even greater role in shaping global surgical research and improving patient care through locally generated evidence.
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