WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTÉ
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR EUROPE BUREAU RÉGIONAL DE L'EUROPE
WELTGESUNDHEITSORGANISATION ВСЕМИРНАЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ ЗДРАВООХРАНЕНИЯ
REGIONALBÜRO FÜR EUROPA ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЕ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОЕ БЮРО
19 January 2024
Original: English
Concept note
“Rehabilitation and assistive technology integration into national
strategies of Member States in the WHO European Region” project,
in partnership with the WHO collaborating centre for Rehabilitation in Global
Health Systems at the University of Lucerne
Background
In 2019, 394 million people in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region had a condition
amenable to rehabilitation. This is more than two in every five people in the Region and demonstrates a
significant need for rehabilitation services.1 The Global report on assistive technology, jointly developed
by WHO and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),2 indicates that as many as one in three
individuals in the Region requires access to assistive technology – including assistive products and the
services and systems that are needed to deliver them. This project aims to understand the current
status of integration of rehabilitation and assistive technologies into European Region health systems,
and provide information on how WHO can best provide Member States with support for rehabilitation
and access to assistive technology.
Proposal
The aim of the project is to collect information on how and to what extent rehabilitation and access to
assistive technology are included in, or planned to be included in, national strategies and emergency
plans in all 53 Member States of the WHO European Region. The information will be used in the
development of a national policy dashboard on rehabilitation to be hosted by the WHO Regional Office
for Europe.
Objectives
To conduct an online stakeholder consultation with the national rehabilitation focal points
nominated by Member States’ ministries of health and/or social protection/affairs.
To carry out a document analysis of Member States’ current national strategies, to
complement the consultation.
To create a database of Member States’ rehabilitation and assistive technology national focal
persons, for the benefit of the project and for future reference.
Research questions
1
The need for rehabilitation services in the WHO European Region. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2022
(https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289058506, accessed 22 January 2024).
2
Global report on assistive technology. Geneva: World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2022
(https://who.int/publications/i/item/9789240049451, accessed 22 January 2024).
Concept Note
page 2
Which European Region Member States have developed national strategic plans specifically
for rehabilitation and/or access to assistive technology or have included rehabilitation and/or
access to assistive technology in other national strategic plans?
Which Member States are planning to develop or revise their national strategic plans for
rehabilitation and/or access to assistive technology?
For Member States who have included rehabilitation and/or access to assistive technology in
their national strategic plans, which elements have been included and what are the reasons
for their inclusion?
Methodology
National rehabilitation focal points for all 53 European Region Member States will be contacted by
formally requesting the ministries of health and/or social protection/affairs of each country to nominate
an appropriate person. The focal point officers will be asked to: 1) to participate in a brief online survey
via WHO’s secure dataform survey platform; and 2) share national strategy documents with the project,
if the national strategies have incorporated aspects of rehabilitation and/or access to assistive
technology.
The survey will include a variety of question types, including multiple-choice, open-ended and rating
questions. The collected data will be used for a thematic analysis aimed at eliciting insights into the
rationale and intentions behind each Member State’s strategic plans for rehabilitation. The WHO ethical
committee will be approached to seek approval for the project.
Outcomes
Producing a rehabilitation and assistive technology policy brief for the WHO European
Region, including information summary tables, to be used to develop a national policy
dashboard hosted by the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
Incorporating the data collected into the Rehabilitation dataset of the European Health
Information Gateway.3
Publishing at least one peer-reviewed scientific publication in an open-access journal.
Potentially presenting the findings to Member States in a high-level briefing meeting, with a
call to action.
Producing a database of the Region’s 53 rehabilitation and assistive technology national focal
persons.
3
Rehabilitation. In: European Health Information Gateway [online database]. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2024
(https://gateway.euro.who.int/en/datasets/rehab/, accessed 22 January 2024).
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTÉ
WELTGESUNDHEITSORGANISATION Date: 7 February 2024
ВСЕМИРНАЯ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ ЗДРАВООХРАНЕНИЯ
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR EUROPE Ms Elen Ohov
BUREAU RÉGIONAL DE L’EUROPE
REGIONALBÜRO FÜR EUROPA
Adviser
ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЕ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОЕ БЮРО European Union Affairs and International Co-
Head office:
operation Department
UN City, Marmorvej 51, Ministry of Social Affairs
DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Suur-Ameerika 1
Tel.: +45 45 33 70 00; Fax: +45 45 33 70 01
Email:
[email protected] 10122 Tallinn
Website: https://www.who.int/europe Estonia
Our reference: Your reference:
Notre référence: Votre référence:
Unser Zeichen: Ihr Zeichen:
См. наш номер: На Ваш номер:
Dear Ms Ohov,
“Rehabilitation and assistive technology integration into national strategies of Member States in
the WHO European Region” project – request for nominations of focal persons to participate
I am writing to invite your country to participate in the “Rehabilitation and assistive technology
integration into national strategies of Member States in the WHO European Region” project. This
project aims to understand the current status of integration of rehabilitation and assistive technology
into health systems in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region, and provide
information on how WHO can best provide support for rehabilitation and access to assistive
technology in each Member State. The concept note that is included with this invitation gives further
details on this important initiative.
I am formally requesting your office to nominate a focal person for rehabilitation and a focal person
for assistive technology to participate in this project on behalf of your country. We understand that
you may nominate one or more individuals, and that these individuals may work in different
ministries.
The requirements for participation in this project are as follows. In the first two quarters of 2024,
participating focal persons will be asked to: 1) complete a 15-minute online survey via WHO’s secure
dataform survey platform; and 2) share all relevant policy documents (in English, or other languages
if English documentation is not available) on the integration of rehabilitation and assistive technology
into national strategic plans. As part of the project, a database of Member States’ assistive technology
and rehabilitation focal persons will be created, so, with your permission, the contact details of your
focal person(s) will be stored. Your nominated focal persons may be contacted in the future; for
example, if there are new WHO rehabilitation resources to share.
Please send your nomination(s) to Justine Gosling, Technical Specialist in the Disability,
Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology team at the WHO Regional Office for Europe
(
[email protected]) at your earliest convenience, but no later than 1 March 2024. Please include
details of your nominees name(s), functional title(s), email address(es) and language preference(s), if
nominees are not fluent in English. Your nominees will then be contacted directly with all the
information needed for participation in this project.
UN City, Marmorvej 51 Tel.: +45 45 33 70 00 Email:
[email protected]
DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Fax: +45 45 33 70 01 Website: https://www.who.int/europe
Denmark
Project results will be available in early 2025, and will be presented in a WHO policy brief and
published in an article in an open-access journal.
I am looking forward to our collaboration on this important project, which will help WHO provide
support for rehabilitation and access to assistive technology to all Member States in the European
Region.
Sincerely yours,
Dr Natasha Azzopardi Muscat
Director, Division of Country Health Policies and Systems
Encls:
Concept note
Copy for information to:
Ms Triin Uusberg, Head, European Union Affairs and International Co-operation Department, Ministry of
Social Affairs, Suur-Ameerika 1, 10129 Tallinn, Estonia
H.E. Ms Riia Salsa-Audiffren, Ambassador Representative of the Republic of Estonia, Permanent Mission of
the Republic of Estonia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Chemin
du Petit-Saconnex 28A, CH-1209 Genève, Switzerland
H.E. Mr William Mart Laanemäe, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of
Estonia, Frederiksgade 19, 4th floor, 1265 Copenhagen K, Denmark
Ms Kristina Köhler, Liaison Officer, WHO Country Office, Estonia, Paldiski Road 81, 10617 Tallinn, Estonia
–2–
Saatja: EURO DAR <
[email protected]>
Saadetud: 08.02.2024 11:55
Adressaat: <"Elen Ohov">
Koopia: <"Triin Uusberg">; <"SM Info">; <
[email protected]>; Kaisa.Mitt-
Alvarez <
[email protected]>; <
[email protected]>;
<
[email protected]>; KÖHLER, Kristina <
[email protected]>
Teema: Invite to nominate - 'Rehabilitation and assistive technology
integration into national strategies' project
Dear National Counterpart,
Please find attached nomination letter for your kind attention, noting
that the deadline for nomination is 1 March 2024.
Yours sincerely,
Health Workforce and Service Delivery Programme
WHO Regional Office for Europe
Copenhagen, Denmark
Web:
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