Pattern of Orthopaedic Injuries in Victims of Communal Violence in Plateau State

Communal violence in Plateau State has been a recurrent source of traumatic injury, placing severe demands on orthopaedic and trauma services at regional health facilities. This retrospective descriptive study documents the pattern of orthopaedic injuries sustained by victims of communal violence presenting to Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), North Central Nigeria, over a five-year review period. Hospital case records will be reviewed for injury mechanism, anatomical site, injury severity score, surgical interventions performed, hospital length of stay, and patient outcomes including mortality, amputation, and functional status at discharge. Qualitative notes from emergency department logs will supplement quantitative findings. The study anticipates high rates of ballistic injuries, open fractures, and soft tissue trauma requiring complex orthopaedic reconstruction. The findings will be submitted to the hospital's trauma committee, the Plateau State Ministry of Health, and relevant humanitarian organisations to support resource planning and trauma capacity building. This study is among the first to systematically characterise violence-related orthopaedic injury patterns in Plateau State and contributes to filling a critical data gap in the trauma epidemiology literature for conflict-affected communities in Nigeria's Middle Belt region. Enhanced orthopaedic readiness and surge capacity planning are among the key outcomes this research seeks to stimulate. Keywords: communal violence, orthopaedic trauma, open fractures, Plateau State, conflict injuries.