The work of the Bone and Joint Decade (BJD) in 2012-15 is focused on the following priority areas:

• Trauma and the care of the injured through education in prevention and outcome-based interventions
• Healthy ageing through improved access to supportive information and education in self-care
• Musculoskeletal health in the workplace through education in awareness and prevention
• Sustained advocacy for equal priority with other significant non-communicable diseases (NCD’s) by raising awareness of the burden of musculoskeletal diseases (MSD’s) and awareness of the advances in prevention and control
• Health care provider training programme to train mid-level providers in developing countries in the detection, diagnosis and management of MSD’s, being piloted in East Africa

Work in these priority areas is making a significant contribution to the overall goal of the BJD which is to raise awareness of the importance of musculoskeletal conditions and to make musculoskeletal health a priority in national, regional and global health agendas.

In formulating this work programme for 2012 – 2015 the BJD has given close consideration to the priorities of the World Health Organisation (WHO).