Traditional bone setting is an ancient practice in Africa and many developing countries with a very high level of patronage although this practice is often associated with several complications. Ethiopia, like many of the low income countries has a long history with the practice of Bone setting though the prevalence of the practice and possible complications have not been studied at a national level.
It isto be recalled that a national study on the Bone Setters Associated Disability, “BOSAD” have been designed to answer the long awaited gaps in the prevalence of complications of Bone setters’ practice. The study is the first of its kind in the way it is designed.
The study is a prospective cohort with involvement of eight tertiary medical centers for data collection and will run for a course of three years. The pilot phase of the study has been completed over six months’ period and a verified website, bosadstudy.com, has been prepared for the complex data collection.
A national study kick-off meeting is arranged by the host center of the study, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Hawassa university at Hawassa by July 10/2021. All the eight participant centers of the study are expected to be represented by the Principal Investigators (PI) and data collectors along with sole financial supporter, AO-Alliance national coordinator, Mss Tigist Gelaglie. It is highly expected to be an exciting long day meeting which will bring all participants to be familiar with the database, data collection tool and all the variables of the study. Besides, Different Digital Data collection materials will be handed over to all study participant groups and Memorandum of Understanding will be signed by all stakeholders of the study. The news on the proceedings of the meeting will be updated in the coming news stories.
Good luck to all the BOSAD team. Well done for taking forward this great initiative!
Thanks Jim for the support and mentorship on this national study.