"Local Voices for Lasting Care" Wins the Prestigious Albert Schweitzer Audience Award 2026
In rural Tanzania, an innovative partnership between traditional bonesetters and hospital surgeons is bringing life-saving fracture care to more patients. Now, this SURGfund-supported initiative has been awarded the Albert Schweitzer Audience Award 2026.
The Local Voices for Lasting Care project unites traditional bonesetters and formal medical providers to improve trauma care in rural Tanzania.
The Global Surgery Foundation and its partners are honoured to announce that the Building Bridges for Broken Bones project has been awarded the Albert Schweitzer Audience Award 2026. This recognition highlights the project’s innovative efforts to improve trauma care by fostering collaboration between traditional and formal healthcare systems.
In Shirati, Tanzania, an estimated 90% of the northern population lacks access to orthopaedic surgical services. To bridge this massive gap, a collaborative treatment model between traditional bonesetters and local hospital staff is successfully working. Patients who were previously invisible to the formal healthcare system are now reaching the care they need.
The project is a collaboration between the Shirati Foundation, Global Surgery Amsterdam and the Shirati KMT Designated District Hospital. It received catalytic financial and technical support by the Global Surgery Foundation (GSF) through SURGfund.
The Next Step: Implementation
Collaboration alone is not enough. Too many patients, especially children and young adults with complex fractures, still do not receive the treatment they urgently need.
The next crucial step is implementation. Together with bonesetters, surgeons, nurses, patients, administrators, and local authorities, the project will define exactly what good fracture care means in this specific context. By identifying where the system currently falls short, the team will develop locally driven strategies to strengthen fracture care in a sustainable way.
The SURGfund Model in Action
This project exemplifies the fundamental shift in how global health financing is conceived and delivered through SURGfund. As the only fund dedicated exclusively to surgical care systems, SURGfund places local partners in the driver’s seat and ensures that solutions are designed, led, and owned by the communities they serve.
By providing initial catalytic funding, technical assistance, and capacity building, GSF supported the project's evolution into a robust, life-saving model. Today, the initiative is actively rolling out in more areas.
Measurable Impact in Q1 2026
The first quarter of 2026 has seen significant progress in local fieldwork:
Referrals: 39 patients were referred by traditional bonesetters to hospitals for X-rays and, where necessary, surgical treatment during this quarter.
Total Reach: Since the project began, a total of 160 patients have been managed through this collaborative approach, ensuring they receive the appropriate level of care for their injuries.
Beyond local fieldwork, the project has expanded its efforts to the systems level in collaboration with the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) and the West African College of Surgeons (WACS).
Data collection has recently been completed for a major study exploring how traditional bonesetters are organised and regulated across Sub-Saharan Africa. This research involved input from 50 experts, including 12 Ministry of Health representatives across 28 countries, complemented by extensive desk-based research. The findings provide new insights into how collaboration between traditional and formal healthcare can be supported within various legal and policy contexts.
Together, these developments and the honour of the Albert Schweitzer Audience Award strengthen the foundation for improving fracture care locally while contributing to broader global efforts to integrate traditional and formal healthcare systems in a safe and effective way.
Support Locally Led Healthcare
We are deeply grateful to everyone who shared our belief that healthcare improvement should be locally led. Thank you for your incredible support and for voting for ‘Local Voices for Lasting Care – Tanzania’.
Would you like to watch the video below to get a feeling for our project and the impact it is making on the ground?
About the Project
The Building Bridges for Broken Bones project is a targeted intervention designed to improve outcomes for extremity fracture patients and bridge the massive gap in orthopaedic access in rural Tanzania. This project strengthens the local health system by building an effective, collaborative treatment model between traditional bonesetters and formal hospital staff, providing specialized trauma training, and developing locally driven strategies to ensure sustainable, life-saving fracture care.
About the Funding
This project is supported by SURGfund, the pooled financing mechanism of the Global Surgery Foundation (GSF) and the world’s only catalytic fund for strengthening surgical care systems.
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