James P. Waddell, M.D., FRCSC
Coordinator, Canadian National Action Network
Toronto, ON

The Bone & Joint Decade in Canada was invited to participate in the CIHR/Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis "IMHA on the Move" meeting January 31-February 1, 2003. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together many of the organizations with an interest of promoting bone and joint health in order to facilitate networking between those organizations, avoid duplication of effort and expense and coordinate activities promoting access to care for musculoskeletal patients.  

On Friday January 31^st, 2003 the Coordinator for the National Action Network for the Bone & Joint Decade gave a presentation to the group regarding the initiative of the Bone & Joint Decade and its long-term goals in terms of establishment as a "player" in musculoskeletal health in Canada.

The following day the Bone & Joint Decade had an opportunity to host a two-hour session devoted exclusively to the activities of the decade. The goals and objectives for the five key areas within the Bone & Joint Decade mandate (arthritis, trauma, osteoporosis, spinal disorders and musculoskeletal disorders of children) were addressed. The goals and objectives within Canada are different for each of these five areas just as the goals and objectives in different countries would differ depending upon the burden of illness imposed by each of these different conditions.

The second half of the meeting was directed to three key areas which will allow us to develop action plans for the five conditions. The three key areas include education (both patient and health provider); research into the burden of illness imposed by each of these five conditions (to try and determine a measure of effectiveness for intervention in each of these five areas and some coordination of research activities between interested groups); the third area dealt with access to care within the five conditions outlined and we have begun the process of developing a model for access to care for each of the five conditions.

This meeting represented the first opportunity for the Bone & Joint Decade to interact with principle players in musculoskeletal health and I am grateful to Dr. Cy Frank of IMHA for allowing us the opportunity to participate. Funding for this initiative remains a major problem and must be addressed urgently if any of these initiatives are to be successful. The Canadian Orthopaedic Association unfortunately cannot fund this initiative on its own and the constituent organizations making up the National Action Network have similar financial constraints. Despite our initial reluctance to do so, it would appear that we will be dependant upon industry funding to support this initiative into the future.