How do we handle inequitable access to physiotherapy, or scarce resources affecting the quality of care? What are the ethical challenges associated with the management of patients/clients within health care systems of struggling economies? Do physiotherapists have responsibilities to the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs)? In the light of climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation - are we responsible for more than just human health and functioning? These were some of the questions that were covered in this highly topical discussion session.
Sibyl Edward shared her experiences of living in St Lucia and the effects of environmental degradation and climate change there. She presented the question: “Is there a role for physiotherapists in mitigating climate change?” and continued: “Ethics plays a big role in climate change, if you educate yourself about climate change, or just look at what’s happening around you, there’s no going back”.
Filip Maric, from Norway and a founder of the Environmental Physiotherapy Association, said: “We cannot simply focus on a narrow healthcare specialty field that we have historically been working in, but we must acknowledge the historical, ethical, social and environmental challenges we are facing today and the dire need to reassess our values and beliefs, as well as the actions that have followed that have led to today’s crisis, if we want to contribute to human health and functioning around the world.
Esther-Mary D’Arcy, from Ireland and the World Physiotherapy Europe region chair, looked at the issues in relation to the SDGs. She emphasised the power that World Physiotherapy’s 125 member organisations and the 660,000 individual physiotherapists they represent have. She encouraged all physiotherapists to: “Think globally, act locally – the power of one can never be underestimated, each one of us can make a difference.”
The session chair, Andrea Sturm, from Austria, asked Oka Sanerivi, from New Zealand, what our profession could learn from the holistic morality of his culture in the Pacific islands. He responded: “Our profession has largely marginalised the indigenous perspectives of the body, of health, of rehabilitation, and wellbeing, and in the wholesale adoption of western and European views, ways of knowing and systems of knowledge translation”.
This interactive discussion succeeded in exploring the intricate relationships between these ethical challenges and the difficulty of focusing on some at the expense of others.
Congress sessions are available on demand to all registered participants until 8 July 2021.
