Delegates from 16 member organisations attended the Africa region general meeting on 12 September 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. The general meeting was followed by the Africa region congress, 13-14 September 2024.
Joseph Capo-Chichi, chair of the Africa region and member of Association Béninoise des Kinésithérapeutes - Reeducateurs/Beninoise Association of Physiotherapists – Reeducators, welcomed delegates from World Physiotherapy member organisations in the region and observers from national physiotherapy associations in countries/territories that are moving towards applying to become World Physiotherapy member organisations. This includes Burkina Faso, Gabon, Guinea, and Mozambique.
Michel Landry, World Physiotherapy president, and Jean Damascene Gasherebuka, World Physiotherapy board member, also attended the meeting.
A motion, proposed by Association des Kinésithérapeutes du Niger/Nigerien Physiotherapy Association, to develop the executive committee was approved at the meeting.
After the meeting, the Africa region congress 2024 took place and attracted more than 500 participants from 38 countries/territories in Africa and beyond. The congress was hosted by the South African Society for Physiotherapy (SASP), which celebrated its 100th anniversary during the congress.
Focusing on rehabilitation, the congress offered a number of keynote addresses and programme sessions that demonstrated research in the region is increasingly guiding the direction of the physiotherapy profession in Africa.
The congress included daily opening sessions, during which the speakers addressed the audience in English and French, and all congress sessions were all translated into French using an AI based translation tool.
More than 50 volunteers from SASP provided help and guidance during the event.
As part of the closing session, the first Africa region physiotherapy award was presented to Thompson Oshin, a physiotherapist from Nigeria who has dedicated his life to the development of physiotherapy. Thompson Oshin was unable to travel to South Africa, and the award was accepted on his behalf by Felix Oyinlola Odusanya, president of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy. A video message from Thompson Oshin was played during the closing session.
The next Africa region in-person general meeting and congress will be held in 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda.
