Relevance of assistive technology and the sustainable development goals to stakeholder organizations in Malawi

ABSTRACT

Assistive technologies are critical to supporting the participation and engagement of persons with disabilities and others who experience functional difficulties in daily life. Assistive products have been demonstrated to be related to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); however, no previous research has explored the relationship between assistive technology (AT) and the SDGs from the perspective of stakeholder organisations working in the field of AT provision. In this study, we evaluated the relevance of AT and the SDGs to achieving the organisational missions of key stakeholders in AT ecosystem in Malawi. Key stakeholders (n = 36) in the AT field in Malawi were asked to rate the relevance of AT to achieving their organisational missions, and the relevance of AT to each of the 17 SDGs on a 5-point Likert scale. Stakeholders who participated were engaged in consultative meetings with the government and an action research team as part of a larger policy development project, and represented ministries and government agencies, organisations of persons with disabilities, and local and international non-governmental organisations. AT was rated as being relevant to all of the SDGs, albeit to varying degrees, and not surprisingly to achieving AT stakeholders’ organisational missions. The cross-cutting nature of the relevance of AT underscores the importance of cross-ministerial cooperation and shared leadership in provision AT.

KEYWORDS:

• Assistive technology
• sustainable development goals
• global health
• health policy
• collective leadership

Responsible Editor

Stig Wall

Responsible Editor

Stig Wall

Abbreviations

AT	=	Assistive Technology
AP	=	Assistive Products
CRPD	=	Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
WHO	=	World Health Organization
GATE	=	Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology
SDGs	=	Sustainable Development Goals

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the engagement of the APPLICABLE Action Research Group in supporting this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics and consent

Ethical approval for the study was granted by the Maynooth University Research Ethics Committee (SRESC-2019-2378566) and the University of Malawi Research Ethics Committee (P.01/20/10).

Paper context

This paper forms a part of the APPLICABLE project, a participatory research project conducted jointly with the Assisting Living and Learning Institute at Maynooth University and the Centre for Social Research at the University of Malawi. The APPLICABLE project aimed to develop a Priority Assistive Product List and relevant policy in the area of assistive technology. Data gathered for this manuscript can be retrieved by contacting the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by funding from the Irish Research Council (IRC) grant number-COALESCE/2019/114. EMS was supported by a Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.