Supporting patients with long bone fracture in Malawi

Partnering with two hospitals to tackle the main challenges faced by patients with long bone fracture

With support from the Johnson & Johnson Global Surgery Initiative, Lifebox is partnering with Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre to improve the safety of patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. In Malawi, orthopedic surgery contributes significantly to the surgical workload due to high rates of trauma, largely through road traffic accidents.¹

Lifebox is adapting its surgical infection reduction program – Clean Cut – for long bone fracture. 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.^1,2Such fractures can result in long-term disability and death due to wound infection.

This week, the Clean Cut team are holding three training workshops at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on implementation of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, Infection prevention control, and Safer Surgical Instruments – with each including a Train-the-trainer session.

“I am proud to be part of Lifebox’s unwavering commitment to expand its services to several countries including Malawi. Carried out with the support of the Johnson & Johnson Global Surgery Initiative, our Clean Cut for Long Bone Fracture project is a significant milestone in improving patient outcomes by reducing surgical site infection rates and streamlining compliance to safe practices and enhancing surgical teamwork.”

Dr. Damiano Chaula, Clean Cut for Long Bone Fracture Fellow, Malawi

Clean Cut for long bone fracture team, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi.

Clean Cut for long bone fracture aims to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of Clean Cut in reducing infection in patients with long bone fracture ahead of scale to other operating rooms and additional hospitals 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 33 partner Clean Cut hospitals across seven countries. Find out more about the program and its impact here.

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.

"We are enormously proud to bring the Lifebox Clean Cut program to Malawi to tackle the main challenges faced by patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. We thank the Johnson & Johnson Global Surgery Initiative for supporting this vital work to make surgery safer."

Paschal Blessings Simbota, Program Coordinator, Clean Cut for Long Bone Fracture, Malawi.

¹ Chagomerana MB, Tomlinson J, Young S, Hosseinipour MC, Banza L, Lee CN. High morbidity and mortality after lower extremity injuries in Malawi: A prospective cohort study of 905 patients. Int J Surg. 2017 Mar;39:23-29. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2017.01.047. Epub 2017 Jan 18. PMID: 28110030.

² Mtisunge Kachingwe ,Raphael Kazidule Kayambankadzanja,Wezzie Kumwenda Mwafulirwa,Singatiya Stella Chikumbanje, Tim Baker. ‘Factors associated with in-hospital mortality of patients admitted to an intensive care unit in a tertiary hospital in Malawi’ (2022) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273647