Developing The Physiotherapy Profession (WPSEM-03)

SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROFESSION IN NEW AND EMERGING COUNTRIES/TERRITORIES

Physiotherapy is increasingly assuming a more prominent place in the health systems of high resource countries due to the evolution of practice based on evidence and clinical reasoning. Because of the improvement of the quality of entry level education, in many parts of the world physiotherapists are autonomous professionals capable of working independently as first contact professionals.

Unfortunately, in low and middle income countries (LMICs) the situation is not the same. The profession is still unknown to key decision makers in the government, and other health professionals or the wider public. In these countries many of the entry level education programmes are not to international standards, as set out in World Physiotherapy’s Physiotherapist Education Framework, and the absence of professional associations or regulation agencies poses risks for the profession and public.

Since 2017, World Physiotherapy has been working with current/applicant member organisations, training and education institutions and partners, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Humanity and Inclusion (HI), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and Momentum Wheels for Humanity (MWH) to support the development of the physiotherapy profession in LMICs.

Our model, which takes into account all aspects of the profession covering education, capacity building, research and professional development, regulations, advocacy and leadership, has been developed and improved in recent years through our engagement in West Africa (Senegal, Mali, Niger, Ivory Coast,) Central Asia (Tajikistan) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam).

This session will look into our work in two different contexts focusing on the challenges, successes and lessons learned in Vietnam and Tajikistan.

1. Understand the complexity of human resource development in LMICs.
2. Examine key success factors to capacity building projects
3. Explore the importance of relationships to effective capacity building projects