Breaking Barriers: Pilot Course in Tanzania Shows Promising Results for Improving Orthopaedic Care
A groundbreaking pilot course supported by SURGfund reveals that traditional bonesetters and surgeons can learn together, improve patient care, and build mutual respect.
Both groups reported changes in daily practice, including better wound cleaning, more appropriate referrals, and greater use of X-rays for traditional bonesetters and enhanced pre-referral care, diagnostics, and rehabilitation for formal healthcare workers.
The First Course of its Kind
Road traffic injuries are estimated to result in 50 million injuries annually worldwide. Fractures and road injuries are a rising crisis in Africa, but orthopaedic specialists are scarce. Bonesetters are often the first line of care.
The Basics in Fractures course is the first orthopaedic trauma course worldwide that is inclusive of both formal healthcare workers and traditional bonesetters. The course is a three-day in-person course, covering topics such as splinting, X-rays and wound care, especially designed to facilitate collaboration and build mutual trust.
Key Findings
This model shows that working together can save limbs and lives.
Knowledge gains were significant and lasting: average test scores rose from 79.1 % before training to 86.5 %after and remained at 89.2 % one year later.
Bonesetters made the biggest strides: starting at ~65 % before the course, they reached 86.7 % one year later.
Both groups reported changes in daily practice, including better wound cleaning, more appropriate referrals, and greater use of X-rays for traditional bonesetters and enhanced pre-referral care, diagnostics, and rehabilitation for formal healthcare workers.
SURGfund is Scaling Innovative Approaches
This pilot course suggests a promising model for health systems seeking to bridge gaps between formal and traditional care, with potential for scaling across regions facing similar challenges.
The Global Surgery Foundation is committed to ensuring that programs are designed and driven by the communities they serve. Through SURGfund, we provided catalytic funding for the Building Bridges for Broken Bones project which aims at improving fracture care in Tanzania through a unique collaborative model.
New Research Article Available
The new article is titled ‘Improving intersectoral collaboration between formal healthcare workers and traditional bonesetters in resource-limited settings: evaluation of a pilot collaborative orthopaedic trauma course in rural Tanzania’ and was published in BMC Medical Education.
The authors are Joost Binnerts, Thom Hendriks, Maarten Meijer, Jovine Okoth, Nkaina Harun, Penn Teyha, George Njambilo, Inyas Akaro, Baraka Mkinze, Erik Staal, Matthijs Botman Nefti Bempong-Ahun, Geoffrey C. Ibbotson, William J. Harrison, Claude Martin, Erik Hermans, Michael Edwards and Bwire Chirangi.
You can read the full article here:
https://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-025-07737-z
Keep engaged with us!
Donate to support SURGfund
Sign up with your email in the footer to receive updates
Keep reading
The Global Surgery Foundation launched a new initiative in Nigeria. Learn more