Worldwide health priorities highlighted

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Issue: 20 June 2007

The first physical therapy summit on global health at a WCPT congress presented new information on how well the aspirations of physiotherapists tally with the reality of what they are doing.

Elizabeth Dean from Canada (pictured left) said that the objective of the summit was to review global health issues and examine the evidence supporting the extent to which physical therapy addressed these issues. 'We want to make recommendations on the priorities for the profession, based on the evidence,' she said.

A questionnaire had been sent to physiotherapy organisations around the world, asking for information about the profession's health care priorities in each country, and how that tallied with the amount of time devoted to these areas in education.

The data returned so far revealed some important discrepancies.

Gloria Emerah from Nigeria, reporting for WCPT Africa, said the project had opened her eyes to the challenges faced in Africa. The skills of practising physiotherapists were oriented to neuromuscular and orthopaedic work, but they did not reflect how severely Africa was affected by AIDS/HIV, and the threat of lifestyle-related diseases.

In some parts of Africa, she said, average lifespan had declined to 48 years, from 62 in the early 1980s. 'There should be increased curriculum content on communicable diseases,' she said.

'There is a need for us to promote more awareness, and to promote the health of mothers and children.

'Prevention of communicable diseases should be more of a priority for physiotherapists in Africa. We need to be more visible as team players in prevention. We should also be using state-of-the-art management techniques to minimise disabilities from conditions like polio.'