Ukraine has made significant strides in the past several years in gaining recognition for the need to professionalize physical therapy, building a culture of evidence-based practice, orienting national law to include rehabilitation as a service for all and not just for persons with disability status, and incrementally incorporating rehabilitation services into secondary-care levels.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Health is spearheading a number of health reforms with the support of international partners such as USAID and WHO, and current Ministry of Health leadership appear committed to implementing change, providing a crucial opportunity to ensure that rehabilitation systems are part of broader health system reform.
As Ukraine continues its health reform efforts, ReLAB-HS will build on national and global momentum to support the further integration of rehabilitation and assistive technology services within the framework of evidence-based international standards and best practices. ReLAB-HS partner Momentum Wheels for Humanity, which has more than a decade of experience supporting rehabilitation and assistive technology service provision in Ukraine, will lead project implementation in the country.
ReLAB-HS activities in Ukraine will align with the work currently being done through USAID, WHO and other donor-funded initiatives to strengthen the provision of rehabilitation services, including assistive technologies.
The project will work closely with relevant national and subnational actors at all health-care levels in the project catchment area to collaboratively implement and evaluate assistive technology-inclusive rehabilitation service delivery models, support rehabilitation sector leaders to catalyze and strengthen a national agenda for rehabilitation in the health system, support workforce capacity development to improve rehabilitation care, generate new evidence about the integration of rehabilitation into health systems, and engage with stakeholders to use this new evidence for policy and planning.
