World Phsyiotherapy is committed to ensuring greater investment to develop the global physiotherapy profession.
Some of our member organisations are trade unions and have a long history of supporting their individual members in the workplace and the workforce.
At the Global Conference on Primary Health Care, in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018, Jonathon Kruger, World Physiotherapy chief executive officer, said: "Rehabilitation interventions can prevent and counteract many of the negative consequences of age-related chronic diseases, as well as prevent hospitalisation and re-admissions.
"To implement these interventions, skilled rehabilitation professionals are needed to undertake this work. A strong public healthcare system, addressing the needs of an ageing population, requires a strong rehabilitation workforce. All the modelling data available shows there is a critical shortage of these workers. We need greater investment globally to develop this workforce.
"We need more occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech and language therapists, prosthetists, orthotists, rehab medicine physicians and, last but not least, community health workers.
"Evidence shows that an investment in this workforce will give a massive return on that investment and allow older people to participate and contribute as productive members of society."
