Strengthening health systems to prioritise, provide care, and prevent osteoarthritis: a roadmap for global health policy.

Global health policy can significantly reduce the burden of osteoarthritis by implementing a strategic roadmap focused on recognition, care, and prevention for the nearly 600 million affected individuals.

• Why it matters: Osteoarthritis remains largely invisible in health agendas, with limited integration into service models and perceptions of inevitability, which hampers access to effective interventions and exacerbates health inequities. Addressing this gap is crucial to improve outcomes and reduce the disease's societal costs.
• What they did: A co-created, globally relevant roadmap outlines three strategic priorities: capacity building for surveillance and policy integration, scaling up person-centered and equitable care, and slowing disease progression through targeted prevention, supported by cross-sector collaboration.
• The result: Implementing these priorities may enhance health system responses, improve access to care, and reduce osteoarthritis prevalence, ultimately fostering health equity and sustainability across diverse economies.