Supporting patients with long bone fracture in Malawi

Clean Cut is evidence-based and data-driven, with the aim of improving compliance with critical standards of perioperative infection prevention to reduce deaths and complications from surgery. The program has 47 partner Clean Cut hospitals across eleven countries. Find out more about the program and its impact here.

In Malawi, orthopedic surgery contributes significantly to the surgical workload due to high rates of trauma, largely through road traffic accidents. Long bone fractures are cracks or breaks in the long bones of the body, such as in the leg or arm, and can require surgery. Wound infection is the leading complication associated with these injuries. Such fractures can result in long-term disability and death due to wound infection.

With support from the Johnson & Johnson Global Surgery Initiative, Lifebox in 2023 is partnering with Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi to improve the safety of patients undergoing orthopedic surgery through adapting its surgical infection reduction program Clean Cut for long bone fracture. The Clean Cut for long bone fracture tested and demonstrated the effectiveness of Clean Cut in reducing infection in patients with long bone fractures, with a plan to scale to other operating rooms and additional hospitals in Malawi. Accordingly, in 2024, the clean cut for long bone fractures is scaled to an additional 2 hospitals: Mzuzu Central Hospital and Ntcheu District Hospital in Malawi.

We are grateful for the support of Johnson & Johnson Global Surgery Initiative and look forward to working with partners including AO Alliance, Kids OR, Malawi Orthopaedic Association, and the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists for safer orthopedic surgery in Malawi.