Local voices for Lasting Care – Tanzania
Dinsdag 10 februari 2026This project aims to improve trauma care for people with bone fractures in rural Shirati, Tanzania, in a sustainable manner. Together with local healthcare providers, traditional bonesetters, patients, and the government, we are conducting a step-by-step investigation into where the current care chain is falling short and what solutions are
available in this context feasible and effective. Based on local experiences, improvement strategies are developed, tested, and then implemented more widely. This ensures that children and young adults in particular receive the right treatment more quickly, reducing the risk of complications and permanent disabilities.
Goal:
Improving optimal fracture care
Theme:
Trauma care and collaboration
Location:
Tanzania
Health pioneerr:
Luuk Hoppenreijs en Nkaina Walter
Project
Goal
Results
Project
In Shirati, most people with broken bones first seek help from a traditional bonesetter. Thanks to an existing partnership with the hospital, more patients are receiving formal care, but complications continue to occur. This project deepens that partnership and develops locally supported improvement measures to ensure timely, safe, and appropriate trauma care.
Goal
Together with all stakeholders, a single central outcome measure for good fracture care is established. Barriers and facilitating factors are then identified and feasible strategies are developed, such as better counseling, training, and follow-up. Through pilot implementation and evaluation, the approach is sustainably embedded and prepared for upscaling.
Results
- Local stakeholders jointly determine the outcome measure for good trauma care.
- Concrete improvement strategies developed and tested in a pilot.
- Better referral and follow-up of complex fractures.
- Fewer complications and permanent limitations, especially in children.
- Substantiated basis for scaling up to other regions.
Health pioneers Luuk Hoppenreijs and Nkaina Walter
Luuk Hoppenreijs is a physician-researcher and project coordinator at the Shirati Foundation. Together with Nkaina Walter, local project leader and project support worker, he is working to strengthen trauma care in rural areas. Both have extensive experience in Shirati and are committed to professionalizing the collaboration between hospital care and traditional bonesetters. Their approach is implementation-oriented and based entirely on local knowledge and needs.
Check out their project and motivation in the video below:
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