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Presented at the Disability Innovation Summit: Inclusive Interactions conference organised by the GDI hub on 13 Sept 2023.

Outcomes of the first 5 years of the AT2030 project are summarised including: 15 AT country capacity surveys; 11 new assistive technologies; 31 AT ventures brought to sustainability and 70 journal papers. Funding thus far and for the future is also discussed.

Work to supply hearing aids to those with hearing loss in the global south, particularly in South Africa is outlined. Areas highlighted include: work with suppliers; work to ignite innovation and provide products at scale; work with UNICEF and the procurement catalogue; work with HEARX to provide screening and aid fine tuning via a phone app to enable community health AT service.

Questions from the audience highlight issues surrounding acquiring AT in the emergency/humanitarian setting  

A series of short talks concerned with local innovation and production of AT devices in Nepal given by representatives of members of the associated ecosystem. A short history of the projects is presented. The devastating earthquake in 2015 and COVID both demonstrated the necessity for local innovation, production, repair and maintenance of AT. Three workstreams are ongoing: codesigning for individual needs; manual wheelchairs; and repair and spare part production. The need to develop local OT services in Nepal, particularly of bespoke provision, codesigning with the user to ensure achievable goals with a developed therapeutic intervention plan, is highlighted. Innovative AT associated with the knee joint and a diabetic foot and also a temperature monitoring device are shown and problems with local product validation are highlighted.  Ram Chandra Thapa (founder of Zener Technologies) describes the use of 3D printing in emergency engineering situations. He briefly describes his current project concerning wheelchairs, outlining associated difficulties, the local production ecosystem and the assessment of which parts are the most important for maintenance needs. The need for training and also finance to take a product from innovation to production are mentionned.

This publication summarizes the situation of the assistive technology system in Georgia as of August 2021, and the findings of a household survey on assistive technology conducted in March 2021. It describes the current resources, needs, gaps and opportunities in the area of assistive technology in Georgia, and provides recommendations on how to strengthen the system. The situational analysis was conducted under the leadership of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs, with technical support from WHO Regional Office for Europe and WHO Country Office in Georgia. The data was collected through interviews with assistive technology users, providers, professionals and policy makers. The report is divided into 5 chapters addressing different aspects of the assistive technology system: policy, products, provision, personnel and the findings of the household survey on the population needs.

An estimated 1.5 million people undergo limb amputation each year [1]. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are projected to have a rapid increase in people living with an amputation in the coming years due to prevalence of non-communicable disease, trauma and conflict. This paper explores the personal and system factors that motivate and enhance outcomes for patients accessing a prosthetic service and using a lower-limb prosthesis within a low resource setting.

This study employed a qualitative approach to explore the motivations and satisfaction of individuals with lower limb loss engaging with a prosthetic service in Mombasa, Kenya. In-depth interviews were conducted over Microsoft Teams with 10 lower limb prosthesis users and thematic analysis was applied.

Disability and Rehabilitation Volume 45, 2023 - Issue 26

https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2022.2152875

Many people with amputations who live in low-resourced settings struggle to access the workshops where qualified prosthetists provide appropriate care. Novel technologies such as the thermoplastic Confidence Socket are emerging, which could help facilitate easier access to prosthetic services. The objective of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction and the performance of transtibial prosthesis featuring the Confidence Socket. This is a longitudinal repeated-measures design study.

Prosthet Orthot Int. 2022 Oct; 46(5): 532–537.

Published online 2022 Mar 25. doi: 10.1097/PXR.0000000000000130

The WHO-UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology (AT) reveals that more than 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products, such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, or apps that support communication and cognition. Yet nearly one billion of them are denied access, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where access can be as low as 3% of the need for these life-changing products.

The Global Report provides the best available evidence about the barriers currently preventing access, how access can be improved, and how enabling environments and AT can enable persons with disabilities to enjoy their human rights while generating a tremendous return on investment for governments. The report also makes 10 key recommendations for concrete actions that will improve access to AT, for everyone, that needs them. 

Access to assistive technology for children with disabilities is often the first step for childhood development, access to education, participation in sports and civic life, and getting ready for employment like their peers. Children with disabilities have additional challenges due to their growth, which requires frequent adjustments or replacements of their assistive products.

It is essential to understand the strategies and processes which are deployed currently across the Assistive Technology (AT) space toward measuring innovation. The main aim of this paper is to identify functional innovation strategies and processes which are being or can be deployed in the AT space to increase access to AT globally.

Assistive Technology 
The Official Journal of RESNA
Volume 33, 2021 - Issue sup1: Companion Papers to the Global Report on Assistive Technology
 

https://doi.org/10.1080/10400435.2021.1970653

Organised by HI, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, the Ministry of Health of Guyana and CSEM. Participants discussed challenges and best practices to access quality rehabilitation services and inclusive health systems. The event highlighted the often side-lined role of rehabilitation in achieving SDG3 on health and wellbeing and its positive repercussions on many other SDGs. The lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis were presented in the panel discussions, showing not only the relevance of rehabilitation for people affected by COVID-19, but also the need to maintain essential rehabilitation services operating during health crises

Epidemiological data on musculoskeletal impairment (MSI) and related service and assistive product (AP) needs for displaced populations are lacking. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence, aetiology, and specific MSI diagnosis and the need for related services and APs among Syrian refugees living in Sultanbeyli, a district in Istanbul, Turkey.

A population-based survey used probability proportionate to size and compact segment sampling to select 80 clusters (‘street’) of 50 individuals (aged 2+), for total sample size of approximately 4000 participants. An updated version of the Rapid Assessment of MSI tool (RAM) was used to screen all participants using six questions. Any participant who screened positive underwent a standardised examination by a physiotherapist to assess the presence, aetiology, severity and specific diagnosis of MSI and an assessment of need for related services and APs.

Conflict and Health volume 15, Article number: 29 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-021-00362-9