WHAT WE DO
The World Health Organization (WHO) identified and broadly categorized limitations in the physical rehabilitation sector, which delay adequate provision of prosthetic and orthotic services to persons with physical disabilities into a 4-P framework.
The following are basic definitions (sourced from WHO and ICRC) for better understanding:
- Physical Disability is a limitation to a person's physical functioning and mobility, which restricts their free interaction with the environment and participation in the community.
- Physical Rehabilitation is a set of interventions designed to restore potentials of physically challenged individuals by provision of assistive devices that might lead to socially integrating in the community. The overall aim of physical rehabilitation is the treatment of physically disabled Individuals through a holistic and individualized approach that focuses on the specific mobility needs with regards to their specific functional disability and the related functional problems that this causes. Hence, physical rehabilitation is conceived as an empowering process that enables physically disabled individuals to regain their functionality.
- Person with (physical) Disability (PwD) is a person having a physical impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities performed by them.
The following is an account of the 4-P framework for prosthetics and orthotics modified according to the Pakistani context. These limitations in the physical rehabilitation sector have been broadly categorized in the following diagram:
The Rehab Initiative joins hands with its partner physical rehabilitation organizations and key stakeholders in the physical rehabilitation sector, to bring about cost effective solutions along the following five focus areas.
The Rehab Initiative maintains a centralized supply chain of high-quality orthotic and prosthetic components by establishing strong liaisons with all stakeholders of the physical rehabilitation sector. It consists of the following:
Building professional capacities of the prosthetist and orthotist workforce is at the center of achieving sustainability in the physical rehabilitation sector in Pakistan. By collaborations with international P&O educational institutes, the RI inculcates best practices in professional P&Os to upgrade the standard of services provided by them including the following:
By incorporating R&D into achieving innovation and cost-effective solutions to enhance the standard of physical rehabilitation services being delivered, the RI invests its resources into bringing about new alternate technologies to attain sustainability in the physical rehabilitation sector.
The RI garners state support to further the cause of physical rehabilitation and integration of PwDs into mainstream healthcare. Engaging with multiple local, state-level and international stakeholders the RI promotes facilitation of rehabilitation, inclusion and accessibility of PwDs, while imparting knowledge on the basics of physical rehabilitation and its life changing impact. Under this field we accomplish the following:
Under specialized-service provision, the Rehab Initiative provides support to its existing network of physical rehab partners by strengthening its R&D resources, to upgrade the level of physical rehabilitation services being delivered in Pakistan.
