World Spine Care Accomplishments in 2018: Here’s What You Helped Us Do
As the year draws to a close and we head into 2019, the Board of Directors of World Spine Care thank you for your incredible support.
Here are just a few things that World Spine Care has accomplished this year, thanks to the support of individuals like you.
Bringing Access to Spine Care to Underserved Communities around the World
- World Spine Care now has registered charities in the USA, Canada, and United Kingdom (WSCUS, WSCC and WSCE)
- World Spine Care continued to offer 6 clinics in 4 countries in 2018 – Botswana, Dominican Republic, Ghana and India;
- The Botswana Program offered three clinical programs that include a primary spine care program in the village of Shoshong, a secondary spine care program at the Mahalapye District Hospital and the introduction of a tertiary spine care program at the Princess Marina Hospital;
- The Dominican Republic Program has two volunteers treating patients in Moca. The clinic is supported by government and businesses, with further expansion of the program being investigated;
- The Ghana Program at Ridge Hospital, Accra continues to serve patients from the local community, and in 2018, WSC received an increased commitment from the Government in Ghana.
- The India Program at MGM Institute of Health Sciences and University, Kamothe University Hospital, Navi Mumbai serves no-income and low-income spine patients in the MGM WSC clinic with plans to open village clinics in remote areas around Mumbai for 2019.
- Together these clinics were able to provide care to approximately 10,000 patients who would have not otherwise received it.
Leading the Development of Evidence Based Spine Care Research
- 2018 saw the publication of the Global Spine Care Initiative (GSCI), which included contributions from 68 clinicians and scientists from 24 countries;
- These papers present a detailed scientific evaluation of the literature on spinal disorders as well as a complex consensus-based model of care that can be used to establish and scale spine programs in low and middle-income communities.
- To date, 15 scientific peer-reviewed papers have been published in a Special Issue of the European Spine Journal with an additional paper published in PLOS ONE; the peer-reviewed open access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science.
- This publication was made possible only because of an estimated $500,000 in-kind contribution by the members of the GSCI.
Building Sustainable Communities and Educating Local Health Professionals
World Spine Care is an organization run by volunteers with over 100 individuals working passionately toward a shared vision: a world in which everyone has access to the highest quality spine care possible. We are incredibly proud of the community we’ve built, and we’ve done it thanks to the continued generosity of our network of friends, colleagues, and others who have taken up this important cause as their own.
- The Third WSC Botswana Conference was hosted in May 2018 and brought in over 300 attendees from throughout the country. Twenty-two of the world’s leading spine care scientists and clinicians from 9 countries volunteered their time and expertise to present at the conference.
- Two WSC scholars have completed their education as chiropractors from Palmer College of Chiropractic and the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. They graduated earlier this year and have returned to Botswana to help to build and sustain the WSC program. Working with WSC volunteers in Botswana, they will work to enhance the overall care of people with spinal disorders by clinicians who are native born Batswana.
Thank you for being a part of it.
It’s not too late to make your 2018 donation! Click here to make your year-end gift today.
