The NESA participated as a consultant in the WHO project 'Safe Surgery Saves Lives' and promotes the resulting Safety Checklist internationally. For more information, download the article 'Primum non nocere'.

The NESA founded the first European-based, interdisciplinary working group on NOS / SLO. Its goal is to develop surgical procedures using the natural body openings as well as 'scarless' operations, and to promote alternatives to the 'traditional' abdominal and endoscopical operations. The working group elaborates study protocols, conducts pre-clinical and clinical studies, explores specific physiological and surgical aspects and develops adapted instruments.

Endoscopical procedures have replaced laparotomy in many cases.The NESA believes that the natural orifice pathway might equally replace many laparoscopic operations.This is due to the relatively low risk in introducing the instruments and to the assumedly lower intra - abdominal pressure required. Transaxillar and transmamillar procedures are also optimized.

The participants are surgeons from various surgical disciplines as well as pharmacologists, physiologists and representatives of the industry.

The first meeting of the working group took place on June 23, 2006, the second on March 28, 2007 in Berlin.