Welcome

                Osteoporosis is one of the most common chronic diseases in men and women over the age of 60 years.  It is the risk factor for fractures and silently results in pain, deformity, disability, and even death with huge economic burden second to lung cancer.  While osteoporosis is preventable and treatable the disease affects increasing numbers of individuals every year.  There are osteoporosis-related fractures every 2 seconds worldwide.  In most populations including the Saudi population, men and women together with their healthcare providers are not doing enough about osteoporosis and bone health.  The Center of Excellence for Osteoporosis Research at King Abdulaziz University took the initiative to start a national campaign for the prevention of osteoporosis.  This is part of its objectives and its awareness and outreach programs.  This was culminated by the approval by a Royal decree to conduct the "Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz National Campaign for the Prevention of Osteoporosis".  The challenge is to make osteoporosis personally relevant to the Saudi population, motivate all sectors of the population to seek knowledge about their own risks and to make changes to decrease the likelihood that they will suffer debilitating consequences of osteoporosis.

                In a bold objective at reaching all members of the Saudi communities as well as those who  influence over their health, the Campaign will promote cohesive messages about osteoporosis and supports dissemination throughout the 13 regions of Saudi Arabia over a 4-year period starting from 2012.  The Campaign seeks to stimulate system-wide changes that promote effective health care and policy responses to meet the needs as awareness increases and community behavior changes.  The primary goal is to reduce the impact of osteoporosis on among the Saudi population and to remove barriers to care that underlie health disparities in underserved populations.