Osteopathy Without Borders was created in 2007 to bring the profession of osteopathy to developing countries, starting with Pakistan. We funded the training of two osteopaths in Lahore, who are now ready to be part of our second phase: the creation of an osteopathic teaching program at Khyber Medical University (KMU), in Peshawar, Pakistan.

In Pakistan right now, for every doctor, there are 4 posts unfilled. Good medicine is available only in the main cities. Patients often get to doctors when conditions are already so serious that they are hard to treat, if curable at all. Osteopathy is effective, low-tech and low-cost. It can be practiced easily in hospital wards as complementary medicine or as a first line of care in city neighborhoods or remote areas.

Bringing osteopathic training at this early stage of Pakistan’s development will help them grow a modern, integrative healthcare system, instead of what we see in the West, where healthcare costs spiral out of control and complementary care is an additional cost, instead of a savings. Osteopathy makes people healthier as they are treated for a variety of symptoms, as shown by our study of 50 patients showing significant improvement in general health after osteopathic treatment for pain. What does a society look like when people get treated from the start with osteopathy?! We believe it is a healthier society and the opportunity exists in Pakistan to prove it.

Osteopathy will also provide stable career opportunities for those choosing this profession. It will be a gratifying career in urban settings, and it will be a rare career that will also allow educated people to live and stay in the remote areas they come from.

What we need to succeed:

The full-time osteopathic program that will start in the Fall of 2019 in Peshawar, Pakistan, will be the first osteopathic school in Asia. We are planning classes of 30 students per year. The basic health sciences will be taught by KMU professors, while professors will travel from the College of Osteopathic Studies (CEO, College d’Etudes Osteopathiques) in Montreal, Canada to insure the highest quality of training. The cost to the students will be in line with similar bachelor programs in Pakistan. The gap between fees paid locally and Canadian costs will need to be raised from donations.

The CEO school will provide its services at cost as its contribution to the health of humanity. The budget for professors’ fees and travel expenses is estimated to be about $100,000 per class per year. The second year, with a new 1st year class, we’ll need to raise $200,000, etc. for 5 years. After 6 years costs will decrease as local osteopathy professors take charge. In ten years, OWB’s job will be done, as there will be enough local osteopaths to continue the training locally.

Thank you to all who can contribute to our efforts of bringing a modern integrative healthcare system to a developing country. OWB is a 501c-3 organization. Your donations are fully tax-deductible