Rehabilitation in Health Systems -Guide for action
Rehabilitation and universal health coverage: Rehabilitation is a fundamental health service for people with a wide range of health conditions, throughout all stages of the life-course, and during all phases of acute, sub-acute and long-term care. Rehabilitation addresses the impact of a health condition on the person’s life by focusing primarily on improving their functioning and reducing the experience of disability. Rehabilitation focuses on the functioning of an individual and not the disease.
It does this through a strong emphasis on educating and empowering people to manage their health conditions, adapt to their situation and remain as independent and active as possible. By doing this, rehabilitation enables greater participation in education, employment and community life, with far-reaching health, social and economic benefits.
Rehabilitation is an increasingly important health service in light of ageing populations and the rising prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
Furthermore, as access to health care interventions expands, rehabilitation is needed to maximize their effectiveness and impact. Currently, however, the need for rehabilitation greatly exceeds its availability.
