Musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions such as low back pain, arthritis and other diseases of the joints affect millions of people around the world and are one the leading causes of disability as identified in the Lancet in 2012. However, these conditions are often not seen as a priority for public health and have not made it onto the global health agenda. The issue is often noted that musculoskeletal conditions do not result have high mortality rates, however they often lead to disability. The 2016 Global Burden of Disease data finds that Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) for musculoskeletal conditions increased by 61.6% between 1990 and 2016, with an increase of 19.6% between 2006 and 2016. Osteoarthritis was observed to have a 104.9% rise in DALYs (or 8.8% when age-standardized) from 1990 to 2016.6 Musculoskeletal conditions comprised the second highest global volume of years lived with disability in 2016.8

Many can be effectively prevented and controlled therefore reducing the pain and disability experienced by individuals across the world. And yet they are often missed as international, regional and national policy makers decide on their priorities for investment. Without being assigned an appropriate levels of priority result in avoidable disability.

The Global Alliance of Musculoskeletal Health (G-MUSC) is a network of researchers, clinicians, patients and policy makers who work together across the world to advocate for the inclusion on as a priority for policy makers across the world.