WHO standards for prosthetics and orthotics

Overview

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) states that Member States are responsible for taking effective measures to ensure personal mobility for the greatest possible independence of people with disabilities. They also have a corresponding responsibility to promote and ensure the availability of and access to mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, including prostheses and orthoses. Since 2006, more than 170 countries have ratified the CRPD and are therefore obliged to ensure access to affordable, high-quality assistive products, including prostheses and orthoses.

Prostheses (artificial legs and hands) and orthoses (braces and splints) enable people with physical impairments or functional limitations to live healthy, productive, independent, dignified lives and to participate in education, the labour market and social life. The use of prostheses or orthoses can reduce the need for formal health care, support services, longterm care and caregivers. Without access to prostheses or orthoses, people who need them are often excluded, isolated and locked into poverty, which increases the burden of morbidity and disability.

WHO estimates that, today, only 1 in 10 people in need has access to assistive products, including prostheses and orthoses, because of their high cost and because of lack of awareness, availability, trained personnel, policy and financing. Hence, WHO is coordinating a global initiative, “Global cooperation on assistive technology” (GATE), to improve access to high-quality, affordable assistive products. WHO’s global disability action plan for 2014–2021 and the subsequent publication Rehabilitation in health systems request Member States to develop financing and procurement policies to ensure that assistive products, including prostheses and orthoses, are available to everyone who needs them.

To improve access to prosthetics and orthotics services, WHO, in partnership with the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has prepared global standards and an implementation manual to assist Member States in setting up, improving or transforming their systems for delivering these services. One aim of the document is to ensure that prosthetics and orthotics services are integrated into health services and systems, as they are often provided at the same time as other health services. WHO believes that this document will promote greater access to these services globally, as another step towards strengthening universal health coverage and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).