Rehabilitation 2030 Initiative

Background
The Rehabilitation 2030 initiative draws attention to the profound unmet need for rehabilitation worldwide, and highlights the importance of strengthening health systems to provide rehabilitation. The initiative marks a new strategic approach for the global rehabilitation community by emphasizing that:

-Rehabilitation should be available for all the population and through all stages of the life course.
-Efforts to strengthen rehabilitation should be directed towards supporting the health system as a whole and integrating rehabilitation into all levels of health care.
-Rehabilitation is an essential health service and crucial for achieving universal health coverage.

With ageing populations, and an increase in the number of people living with chronic disease, rehabilitation is a priority health strategy for the 21st century that uniquely contributes to optimising the functioning of the population.

The Rehabilitation 2030 initiative was launched in February 2017 and introduced a 'call for action', rallying stakeholder towards concerted and coordinated global action to scale up rehabilitation. In order to achieve this, 10 priority areas for action were identified:

1. Creating strong leadership and political support for rehabilitation at sub-national, national and global levels.
2. Strengthening rehabilitation planning and implementation at national and sub-national levels, including within emergency preparedness and response.
3. Improving integration of rehabilitation into the health sector and strengthening intersectoral links to effectively and efficiently meet population needs.
4. Incorporating rehabilitation in Universal Health Coverage.
5. Building comprehensive rehabilitation service delivery models to progressively achieve equitable access to quality services, including assistive products, for all the population, including those in rural and remote areas.
6. Developing a strong multidisciplinary rehabilitation workforce that is suitable for country context, and promoting rehabilitation concepts across all health workforce education.
7. Expanding financing for rehabilitation through appropriate mechanisms.
8. Collecting information relevant to rehabilitation to enhance health information systems including system level rehabilitation data and information on functioning utilizing the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).
9. Building research capacity and expanding the availability of robust evidence for rehabilitation.
10. Establishing and strengthening networks and partnerships in rehabilitation, particularly between low-, middle- and high-income countries.

Why do we have the Rehabilitation 2030 initiative?

Globally, one in three people are living with a health condition that benefits from rehabilitation. These needs are spread across the lifespan, from children with congenital and intellectual impairment, to young adults with physical limitation resulting from unintentional and war-related injuries, to older people experiencing chronic disease or difficulties associated with ageing. These rehabilitation needs will only grow in the coming years as populations continue to age, and the number of people living with chronic disease continues to increase throughout the world.

Many countries are not equipped to respond to existing rehabilitation needs, let alone the forecasted increase that is arising from health and demographic trends. Rehabilitation is often not prioritized in countries and continues to be under-resourced. As a result, countless individuals do not have access to rehabilitation services, leading to an exacerbation of their condition, further complications and lifelong consequences. In some low- and middle-income countries, more than 50% of people do not receive the rehabilitation services they require.

In 2017, in recognition of the growing global rehabilitation needs, under-developed rehabilitation services and significant potential for unmet rehabilitation needs to increase in future, the WHO, Member States, development partners and civil society came together to launch the Rehabilitation 2030 initiative.

Rehabilitation 2030 activities
Since the initial call for action, WHO has undertaken a series of activities to accelerate action and support progress in countries towards achieving the goals of the Rehabilitation 2030 initiative.

Technical support to countries

WHO has supported over 20 countries across all world regions to strengthen their health systems to better provide rehabilitation services. The number of countries requesting technical support from WHO is ever increasing. More: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241515986