Calling for a proactive approach to prioritise spine care in national health programmes, the fourth SPINE20 annual summit has come up with recommendations for G20 countries, with a focus on raising awareness on the issue and ensuring accessible and affordable quality care.

Spine societies from across the globe were gathered on a single platform to brainstorm recommendations for G20 countries on spine care at the two-day event. The annual summit, which took place in India recently, was hosted by the Association of Spine Surgeons of India (ASSI) at India Habitat Centre (IHC), New Delhi. 

“The draft recommendations for SPINE20 2023, which were voted upon and finalised on the second day of the event laid focus on eliminating structural barriers to accessing timely rehabilitation for back pain to reduce poverty. The final recommendations also called for raising awareness of how everyday lifestyle decisions regarding wellness, physical activity, smoking, and nutrition, affect the world's resources and spine health” says Dr HS Chhabra, Chair Spine20 2023 and Chief of Spine and Rehabilitation Centre at Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute. 

Other recommendations included implementing cost-effective, evidence-based practice for digital transformation in spine care, delivering self-management and prevention, evaluating practice, and measuring outcomes.

The high-level discussions on spine care called for supporting the development, implementation, and evaluation of standardization processes for spine care delivery systems encompassing genomic, psychological, social, and cultural dimensions of population health needs. 

In addition, the final recommendations included raising awareness of safety lapses in primary care including risk factors of spinal disability and chronicity, and ensuring accessible and affordable quality care to persons with spine-related disorders, deformities, and injuries throughout the lifespan. The main highlight of the recommendations was for G20 countries to prioritise and implement a National Spinal Care programme to improve spine care.