WCPT President Emma Stokes said:
“While WCPT has worked with ICRC over many years, this is the first time we have signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the organisations. It formalises our relationship and signals the future we see as both organisations work together to improve physical therapy capacity and services where they are most needed and in communities that are very often underserved.”
WCPT and ICRC have worked together to promote physiotherapy and physical rehabilitation programmes across the globe, and will continue to work collaboratively to support the development of entry level and postgraduate physiotherapy education and national physiotherapy associations.
Since 2011 WCPT and the ICRC have frequently collaborated on a range of topics, for example – support to emerging physiotherapy associations in countries without a WCPT member organisation, working with training institutions in curriculum and quality assurance development, and advocating to integrate physiotherapist assistants in service provision.
In 2014 WCPT and the ICRC worked together within the framework of the Health Care in Danger project.
Formalising the WCPT/ICRC collaboration in a Memorandum of Understanding will help disseminate WCPT standards and improve the quality of physiotherapy service provision. Within the framework of hospital and physical rehabilitation projects, the development and the promotion of the roles and responsibilities of physiotherapists, member associations and partners will constitute the major area of cooperation between WCPT and the ICRC.
At an international level, the partnership will upgrade physiotherapy activities in countries where WCPT has less profile and, at a national or regional level, it will encourage initiatives from national physical therapy associations, where applicable, to promote quality physiotherapy services. The partnership will also increase cooperation between WCPT and the ICRC on specific topics (for example, training, data collection, human resources).
