Ensuring access to rehabilitation for all

“Obstacles are opportunities” is one of Maddi Niebancks’ key sayings.

She knows obstacles: in 2017, at age 22, Maddi had a stroke, just a week after graduating from university in the United States of America. Months of rehabilitation brought back her ability to walk, with a cane and use her left arm. She spent two and a half years in rehabilitation. As a stroke survivor and advocate, she has built networks for and of stroke survivors and their caregivers. She explains: “I think I was very lucky in that I had an amazing support system, I realize now through advocacy that not everyone has built in support … Ensuring access to rehabilitation globally is key”.

It is an aim very much in line with Rehabilitation 2030, a WHO initiative that draws attention to the profound unmet need for rehabilitation worldwide and highlights the importance of strengthening health systems to provide rehabilitation. To support its implementation, a global network called the World Rehabilitation Alliance (WRA) acts as a platform for a diverse set of stakeholders to collaborate and advocate for rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation is a health service for people who have experienced an illness, injury, disability or age-related decline in their functioning. Its primary goal is to help regain, maintain or improve your physical, mental, and sensory abilities so one can lead a more independent and fulfilling life.

Rehabilitation specialist in Philippines, in 2019, during an assessment and home visit to Guillermo (53), a patient that suffered a stroke in August 2018 and consequently, got a paralysis in the left side of his body.
Photo credit: WHO / NOOR / Sebastian Liste

Maddi felt the importance of support from other survivors in her research for her book Fast Fwd: The Fully Recovered Mindset and in her own recovery process.“Rehab has a focus on the physical, but the mental health recovery, the emotional aspect of the recovery are not really addressed” she explains. Connecting with other survivors “I realized I really am not alone and we can help each other…A lot of survivors would tell me that this was the first time they have talked with someone...they had never had time to”.

Over 2.4 billion people live with a health condition that may benefit from rehabilitation, and this number is estimated to increase. Of these, there are 86 million people in need of rehabilitation due to a stroke. In many parts of the world, this need is largely unmet. More than half of people requiring rehabilitation in some low- and middle-income countries, do not receive them.

Being as independent as possible is the goal of rehabilitation, enabling people participation in education, work, and other life roles.

As Maddi notes: “I was very fortunate my family was very supportive. They wanted me to achieve all the things I wanted, to travel on my own, to work independently.”