AO Alliance has announced a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust to improve the quality of and access to fracture care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in West Africa.
The West Africa Trauma Education Program aims to improve health outcomes for patients by building longer-term local capacity for injury and fracture care, and sustainably strengthening health systems, including essential surgery. The three-year collaboration will provide specialized education and training for up to 900 national and regional healthcare workers to deliver safe and timely access to care for the injured.
The first year of the program will support educational activities in Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Dr Claude Martin jr., Managing Director, AO Alliance said: “AO Alliance is committed to reducing avoidable mortality and disability in LMICs by introducing enhanced standards of care for fractures. In many cases, countries with the greatest fracture care needs often have the least resources to address the problem. The West Africa Trauma Education Program, in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust will provide front line healthcare workers with added knowledge and skills to better care for the injured.”
Injuries are among the highest causes of death and disability globally and approximately 90% of these occur in low- and middle-income countries, resulting in an estimated US$180 billion in lost productivity annually.Current inequalities in care and treatment mean that patients with life-threatening but survivable injuries are six times more likely to die in LMICs than in a high-income setting.
Improving access and quality of trauma care has been proven to be effective in saving lives and improving clinical outcomes. It has been estimated that addressing inequalities in trauma care in LMICs could reduce mortality by 15-20 percent, saving more than two million lives each year.
Alissa Hsu Lynch, Vice President and Essential Surgery EMEA Lead, Johnson & Johnson3 said: “Out of a global population of seven billion, five billion currently lack access to safe and affordable anesthesia and surgical care. With approximately a third of the world’s global burden of disease being potentially addressable through surgery, lack of access represents one of the most significant global public health challenges in the world today. Todays’ collaboration announcement with AO Alliance is an important step to addressing this burden by ensuring more people are able to access safe, essential and timely surgical care when they need it and brings Johnson & Johnson closer to our five-year goal of ensuring that 50 million people will have had access to safe, essential, and timely surgical care.”
About AO Alliance
AO Alliance is a developmental non-profit organization dedicated to improving the care of the injured in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our mission is to reduce human suffering, disability and poverty. We envision a world where timely and appropriate fracture care is accessible to everyone. This goal can be achieved by implementing innovative, sustainable and effective programs that enhance fracture care.
About Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies
As the world’s most comprehensive medical devices business, we are building on a century of experience, merging science and technology, to shape the future of health and benefit even more people around the world. With our unparalleled breadth, depth and reach across surgery, orthopaedics, vision and interventional solutions, we’re working to profoundly change the way care is delivered. We are in this for life.
