Article

There is strong evidence that population ageing and the epidemiological
transition to a higher incidence of chronic, non-communicable diseases will
continue to profoundly impact societies worldwide, putting more pressure on
healthcare systems to respond to the needs of the people they serve. These trends
argue for the need to address what matters to people about their health:
limitations in their functioning that affect their day-to-day actions and goals
in life. From its inception, rehabilitation, 1 of the 4 health strategies
identified in the Declaration of Alma Ata in 1978, has had functioning as its
outcome of interest. Its practitioners are from fields that include physical and
rehabilitation medicine, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language
therapy, orthotics and prosthetics, psychology, and evaluators of functioning
interventions, including assistive technologies. Demographic and epidemiological
trends suggest that the key indicators of the health of populations will be not
merely mortality and morbidity, but functioning as well. This, in turn, suggests
that the primary focus of healthcare will need to respond to actual healthcare
demands generated by the need for long-term management of chronic conditions,
including, in particular, the scaling up and strengthening of rehabilitation.
This is the case for thinking that rehabilitation will become the key health
strategy of the 21st century.

Langue : ANGLAIS