The Global Report on Assistive Technology: a new era in assistive technology

The World Health Organization, in partnership with UNICEF, recently released the first ever Global Report on Assistive Technology (World Health Organization [WHO], 2022). The report is a direct response to World Health Assembly Resolution 71.8, “Improving Access to Assistive Technology” which called for a report engaging relevant stakeholders, and integrating available data and evidence with the aim to work toward improving access to assistive technology to all who need it (World Health Assembly, 2018). This work is the culmination of years of effort by experts in assistive technology all over the world, through consultations, expert advisors, editors, and writers, the commissioning of 10 background papers (previously published by the Assistive Technology Journal [Borg et al., 2021]), and extensive new data collection and research.

The report is certainly an achievement in its own right, drawing on decades of advocacy, research, practice, and policy. It is a sign of maturity in the field that we are now beginning to see our work as part of a larger whole, a collaborative project that we have all been a part of. Perhaps most importantly, it is an opportunity for us to take stock of where we are as a field, on a global scale, and to chart a course forward into the coming decades. It is, from a scientific perspective, a baseline for a new era in assistive technology.

The report presents comprehensive data on access to assistive technology across all regions of the world and provides evidence to underscore the critical need for assistive technology, which can be used to advocate for inclusion in universal health coverage (WHO, 2022). Furthermore, the report highlights that assistive technology is not solely technology for disability, but also includes those supports needed by people who are aging, those with communicable and non-communicable diseases, mental health conditions, and other functional decline or loss of capacity, each across the lifespan (WHO, 2022). It broadens our perspective on assistive technology and calls on us as a field to embrace the breadth of our potential impact.

While the report highlights some successes, it also identifies barriers that should serve as a call to action to people working in the field, and in particular to researchers working to identify novel ways to address growing global assistive technology needs. There is an urgent need to address awareness and affordability, to develop, evaluate, and disseminate alternative service models to address existing gaps, and to address challenges with product quality, range, and availability (WHO, 2022). There is a need to develop, deliver, and evaluate training to address the need for trained assistive technology workforce to address existing capacity gaps (WHO, 2022). Furthermore, there is a need to develop, implement, and evaluate strategies for improving access to assistive technologies through policies, programs, and systems, which put people at the core through a rights-based approach (WHO, 2022).

The ten recommendations which are outlined in the report are broad and far-reaching, including the implementation of data and evidence-based intersectoral policies, the development of safe, effective, and affordable assistive products, improvement and diversification of the assistive technology workforce, increasing public awareness and reducing stigma, investments in research, innovation, and enabling environments, the inclusion of assistive technology in response to humanitarian crises, and international cooperation (WHO, 2022). Importantly, among these recommendations is the active involvement of assistive technology users and their families (WHO, 2022).

The Assistive Technology Journal congratulates the World Health Organization and UNICEF on the extraordinary accomplishment and welcomes the publication of the Global Report on Assistive Technology. We call on researchers to heed this call to action, to examine their own work in relation to the data and evidence presented in the Global Report, and to identify where they might have the greatest impact through active engagement with assistive technology users and collaboration at the local, national, regional, or global level.