Package of interventions for rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is one of the essential health services included in WHO’s definition of universal health coverage. It is effective in shortening recovery time, preventing complications related to acute and chronic conditions, and improving physical and mental functioning and well-being. Rehabilitation can enable people to return to and engage in work, community and family life, and help to reduce social isolation. Rehabilitation is relevant to individuals with health conditions throughout the life course, and across the continuum of care, such as for children with developmental disorders, people with chronic conditions or people living with the consequences of injuries or ageing.

It is critical that countries are equipped with information on interventions for rehabilitation that are proven to improve and maintain functioning and meet the needs in people with health conditions. The Package of interventions for rehabilitation outlines the most essential interventions for rehabilitation for 20 health conditions that have high prevalence and high levels of associated disability across seven disease areas.

The Package of interventions for rehabilitation also includes information on the workforce needs, and the assistive products, equipment and consumables required to deliver these interventions. As such, the Package of interventions for rehabilitation presents an indispensable resource for countries when planning for and budgeting the integration of rehabilitation services into their health systems.

The Package of interventions for rehabilitation is available with an introduction (module 1) and 7 disease area-specific modules providing the information on interventions for rehabilitation and related required resources. Web annexes for modules 2–8 provide (amongst others) information on the evidence identified for the interventions included in the Package of interventions for rehabilitation.

The information available with the Package of interventions for rehabilitation supports different target users that contribute to strengthening access to interventions for rehabilitation to meet the needs of populations:

• ministries of health: to plan and budget universal health benefit packages for rehabilitation to be integrated into their national health services;
• service planners and providers: to plan the integration and delivery of rehabilitation services into all service delivery levels;
• academics: to inform the development of curricula and training materials to be used by the rehabilitation workforce;
• researchers: to identify gaps to be addressed in future research.