BACKGROUND: Gender imbalance and poor representation of women complicate the anesthesiology
workforce crisis in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This study was performed to obtain a better
understanding of gender disparity among medical graduates and anesthesiologists in SSA.
METHODS: Using a quantitative, participatory, insider research study, led by female anesthesiologists
as the national coordinators in SSA, we collected data from academic or national health
authorities and agencies. National coordinators were nominees of anesthesiology societies
that responded to our email invitations. Data gathered from 13 countries included information
on medical graduates, anesthesiologists graduating between 1998 and 2021, and number of
anesthesiologists licensed to practice in 2018. We compared data between Francophone and
Anglophone countries, and between countries in East Africa and West Africa/Central Africa. We
calculated anesthesiology workforce densities and compared representation of women among
graduating anesthesiologists and medical graduates.
Data analysis was performed using linear regression. We used F-tests on regression slopes to
assess the trends in representation of women over the years and the differences between the
slopes. A value of P