In developing countries, potential obstacles to the delivery of orthopaedic care include inadequate resources, a lack of trained providers and a lack of knowledge in the commonest, and rarer presentations. Orthopaedic research has been driven by the burden of western morbidity in the main, and as such, often not enough is known about the common developing world conditions, or their treatment; most recent editions of textbooks published in developed countries have limited coverage of conditions seen with greater frequency in developing countries such as tuberculosis, infectious processes and the management of chronic neglected conditions. Operation Frameworks funds research and development in those areas of direct clinical application in the developing and transitional world.