World’s Largest Ortho Association Is Chinese

In an effort to pool global resources and improve the skills of surgeons in developing nations, Chinese physicians in Beijing have established a world alliance on orthopedics. The World Orthopaedic Alliance (WOA) is a non-profit organization with members from about 70 countries and regions. The organization aims to develop a mechanism to bridge the gap between clinical orthopedic physicians and companies in the industry, according to Wang Yan, who was elected the WOA’s founding chairman.

Wang, who is also president of the Chinese Orthopaedic Association (COA), said the WOA will serve as a platform for surgeons and medical equipment companies to cooperate and improve orthopaedics services. He said that the mission of the WOA is to work with government departments, medical equipment companies, doctors and hospitals to create an innovative, comprehensive and cost-effective pattern of thinking that suits local cultures to promote medical education, clinical practice, as well as product research and development.

In China alone, 3% of its more than 1.3 billion people have osteoarthritis and more than 40 million suffer from joint diseases, according to COA statistics. Challenges in orthopedics will become greater in China given its rapidly aging population. It is estimated that the country’s population of those above 60 years old will hit 243 million by 2020, accounting for 18% of China’s total population.

With a registered membership of more than 30, 000 orthopedic physicians, the COA is the largest specialized professional society in both the medical community of China and among orthopedic associations around the world.