Currently, approximately 80% of individuals who have sustained a fracture due to osteoporosis do not receive the follow-up care they need, increasing the risk of suffering another costly and life-altering fracture. To ensure more patients age 50 and above are screened, diagnosed and treated for osteoporosis following a related fracture, more post-fracture care programmes must be implemented worldwide. This is particularly important in the Asia-Pacific, with its vast and rapidly increasing ageing population.

To drive this important mission, on June 16, 2020 IOF announced the new Capture the Fracture^® (CTF) Partnership, an IOF initiative supported by Amgen and UCB in collaboration with the University of Oxford. The ambitious aim of the Partnership is to increase the implementation of coordinated post fracture care programs with the ultimate goal of reducing the incidence of hip and vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis by 25% by the year 2025.

Representing the largest global corporate-NGO partnership ever to be launched in our field, the CTF Partnership will amplify the existing Capture the Fracture programme (launched by IOF in 2012) through a comprehensive, top-down and bottom-up approach. By aligning stakeholders to prioritize post fracture care, it will drive more rapid uptake of post-fracture coordination programmes such as Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) around the world.

The partnership will address five interconnected pillars of activity, with a goal of doubling the number of FLS by the end of 2022 across the Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The ‘pillars’ of action include:

1. Driving policy change and prioritization:
   Bringing policy makers, regulators, professional and patient organizations and opinion leaders together around a defined call to action to drive policy change to enable specific, impactful changes at the local, regional and national level.
2. Creating or supporting existing fracture prevention coalitions:
   Uniting national societies with medical groups, Non-Government Organizations, including patient organizations, and other stakeholders to amplify the four additional program pillars at a national, regional and international level.
3. Supporting the establishment of new PFC programs and improving existing programs through comprehensive mentorship:
   Providing customized educational, best practices and peer-to-peer mentorship support and tools (both to established FLS programmes and those under development) to ensure long-term sustainability.
4. Launching a global resource center to share scalable solutions:
   Creating a central, go-to hub of resources, solutions and best practices to enable programmes to more efficiently start and improve the delivery of post fracture care services. A primary focus will also be on developing a scalable FLS benefit calculator.
5. Documenting FLS effectiveness through a digital tool/dataset to improve patient management and FLS Sustainability:
   Capturing critical globally-recognized key performance indicators in a digital tool to help FLSs improve the effectiveness of their programmes and patient outcomes.

The vision of the Capture the Fracture partnership; to decrease secondary fractures and to achieve improved patient outcomes is mirrored in APCO’s own mission to develop tangible solutions to the problems faced in osteoporosis management and fracture prevention in the Asia-Pacific. We invite all organizations and experts in the region to connect with Capture the Fracture and explore ways in which we can strengthen local actions and cooperation. As we reach out to policy makers, collaboration will be the key to success in making secondary fracture prevention a reality.

For further information contact Capture the Fracture at capturethefracture@iofbonehealth.org.

Prof Cyrus Cooper, President, International Osteoporosis Foundation.