SPECIAL ARTICLE  “REHABILITATION 2030: A CALL FOR ACTION” BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) Free access

European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine 2017 April;53(2):155-68

DOI: 10.23736/S1973-9087.17.04746-3

Copyright © 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

The World Health Organization “Rehabilitation 2030: a call for action”

Francesca GIMIGLIANO ¹, Stefano NEGRINI ^{2, 3} ✉

¹ Department of Mental and Physical Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy; ² Section of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy; ³ Don Gnocchi Foundation and Institute for Research and Care, Milan, Italy

February 6th-7th, 2017 might become a memorable date in the future of rehabilitation. On these two days, the World Health Organization (WHO) has summoned over 200 stakeholders in the Executive Board Room of the WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Their common aim was to a launch the “Rehabilitation 2030” call to action and to present the WHO Recommendations on rehabilitation in health systems. These initiatives are meant to draw attention to the increasing unmet need for rehabilitation in the world; to highlight the role of rehabilitation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the United Nations; to call for coordinated and concerted global action towards strengthening rehabilitation in health systems. The aim of this paper is to report on the scientific events of these 2 days, which will most likely mark the history of rehabilitation.

KEY WORDS: Health status - World Health Organization - Rehabilitation - Health planning guidelines