SICOT e-Newsletter
Issue No. 27 - December 2010
Editorial by Cody Bünger, SICOT President
SICOTâs role in International Networking in Musculoskeletal Health
SICOT joined the recent Global Forum of the Bone and Joint Decade on its 10-year anniversary. This initiative was established by the Chairman and Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Lars Lidgren, from the University of Lund, Sweden, and has managed to establish a multidisciplinary global consciousness on musculoskeletal health with the participation of all stakeholders including patients, doctors, academicians, professional societies and politicians. The BJD initiative is recognised by multiple governments and international health organisations, such as NIH, US, EU, UN and WHO, and has managed to focus on the global lack of resources available for musculoskeletal research and patient care. The Decade has defined specific areas for action such as disabilities of the aging population, joint diseases, osteoporosis, back pain and spine conditions, childhood musculoskeletal conditions including trauma, road traffic accidents and trauma care. Although the decade has now ended, it has been decided to continue its mission throughout the next decade. In the United States, the official decade continues for another two years. The trauma care and road traffic accident programme has received official recognition as a task for the next decade. The ongoing BJD initiative is now chaired by Prof Anthony D. Woolf, Royal Cornwall Hospital, England, and a 15-member international steering committee. SICOT is represented in this committee by Prof James Waddell, University of Toronto, Canada.
SICOT missions largely overlap those of the BJD initiative. The major orthopaedic societies are represented and will benefit from this multidisciplinary think tank. It is a major opportunity for these organisations and SICOT in particular to join under the umbrella of the BJD to create resources for their core activities, such as guidelines for trauma care, promotion of cost-effective prevention and treatment, disaster medicine, education centre programmes, and the like.
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