Growe-ing the rehabilitation workforce

The rehabilitation workforce is a diverse composition of occupations and specializations that provide interventions that optimize functioning and reduce disability. The effective coverage of skilled workers in the field of rehabilitation is crucial for providing quality care to those in need. However, many countries struggle with obstacles such as lack of institutional capacity, insufficient jobs for rehabilitation workers, and ineffective incentives for health care workers.

To address these challenges, the Guide for rehabilitation workforce evaluation (GROWE) was launched in July 2023. GROWE provides a comprehensive and systematic approach to collecting qualitative and quantitative data to identify context-specific challenges and develop action plans to strengthen the rehabilitation workforce at national level. The evaluation focuses on economic and political context, stakeholder influence, workforce need, supply, demand and absorption, efficiency, competency and performance to provide information that can shape impactful workforce strategies. By considering the rehabilitation workforce as an interactive ecosystem of occupations, and adopting a comprehensive approach to evaluation, GROWE helps garner political will for investment and action.

The Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation, a WHO Collaborating Centre, partnered with WPRO and the HQ Rehabilitation team and hosted the first GROWE training workshop between 27 and 29 February. The workshop aimed to provide potential GROWE implementers with knowledge and skills on human resources for health and its application to the rehabilitation workforce. It brought together 20 instructors and trainees from around the world, who were guided though theoretical and practical implementation of the GROWE tool.

At the end of the workshop participants said that they had gained considerably from the training, and felt more confident in evaluating the health labour market, competency profiles, population needs and labour market failures analyses with respect to rehabilitation. Many participants will now be going on to implement GROWE in countries around the world.

Several participants shared their perspectives and opinions on the workshop underscoring their overall satisfaction with the training.
Photo credit: Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation

“This was a very important and instrumental process of putting into perspective the technical resource available to support countries implementing rehabilitation workforce evaluation. With this training, we have been given the knowledge and competence in supporting ministries of health in rolling out this technical resource and most importantly the intersection with or alignment with existing rehabilitation technical products by WHO” said Nassif Tawa Ndune, a rehabilitation consultant in the African Region.

Shirley Tse, an Occupational Therapist from the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation articulated a common sentiment among participants. “I learned a lot. I learned how to think about the rehabilitation workforce systematically and opened my eyes on this area. The format and activities of the workshop are active and motivated participation.”

Reynaldo Rey-Matias, the Executive Committee representative for South and South-East Asia and ISPRM-WHO Liaison Committee representative for WPRO contributed with his personal learning experience: “This GROWE workshop really helped me to better understand the rehabilitation workforce. Data coming from studies showed that the density of rehabilitation workers are lowest in Africa, in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and in South-East Asia where I come from. Thank you so much for this workshop. We learned a lot”.

The workshop trainers, María Ramiro (standing) and Jody Mills (on the screen), and some of the participants during a course discussion.
Photo credit: Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation