NZOA closely affiliates itself with overseas and local initiatives related to orthopaedic surgery.

2000-2010 has been designated the Bone and Joint Decade. To date twenty-one countries including the United Kingdom and Australia have endorsed the Decade of Bone & Joint, together with the World Bank, the World Health Organisation and the Secretary-General of the UN. Each country at a local level organises a National Action Network to take responsibility for co-ordinating activities under the umbrella of the Bone and Joint Decade.

A New Zealand network was inaugurated in February with the active support of a number of professional organisations including orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, chiropractors and osteopaths as well as lay groups including the Arthritis Foundation, Osteoporosis New Zealand, New Zealand Amputees Federation, Haemophilia Society and Pagets Disease Charitable Trust.

In 1997 the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association (NZOA) agreed to establish a national Hip and Knee Register to be based at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Christchurch Hospital, directed by Mr Alastair Rothwell (National Coordinator). While this initiative was intended to mark 30 years of joint arthroplasty in New Zealand it was also recognised that there was a real need to collect data on implants and outcomes.