ISPO World Congress 2017: Assistive Technology for All

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Attendees were treated to African flair, including music and dancing, during the opening ceremonies. Photographs courtesy of ISPO.[/caption] For four days, about 2,000 O&P clinicians and technicians, physicians, physical and occupational therapists, pedorthists and podiatrists, rehabilitation engineers, and other allied healthcare providers from 106 countries met in Cape Town, South Africa, May 8-11, for the 16th World Congress of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO). About 30 percent of attendees came from the African continent. With the guiding theme of Assistive Technology for All, attendees discussed the future development of treatments using prostheses and orthoses and other assistive health technologies. A goal of the event was to raise awareness of the need to provide treatment for every person with a disability.

The agenda encompassed a variety of topics including progressive technologies, from movement analysis to 3D printing and robotics; outcomes, best practices, and evidenced-based care; education and cross-cultural intern opportunities; surgical methods; and providing care in less-resourced countries. Two special guest lectures, three keynote lectures, 53 symposia, 22 instructional courses, and about 500 free papers and posters were presented by an international faculty of experts. Additionally, 120 companies from 31 countries showcased their products— many of which are suitable for use in the African market and in developing countries—in the trade exhibition organized by Leipziger Messe, Germany.

A highlight of this Congress was the launch of the World Health Organization (WHO) standards in O&P services, developed in collaboration with ISPO and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Called the Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE), WHO has identified four key components for GATE: products, personnel, provision, and policy, and is focusing on four concrete tools to achieve its overarching goal of improving access to assistive health technology and services (www.ispoint.org/who-gate). Moreover, ISPO has signed an agreement with the Fédération Africaine des Techniciens Orthoprothésistes (FATO) to establish the ISPO-FATO Council, thereby granting member nations of FATO better access to the international community. This collaboration represents a major step forward in the development of global standards for treatments involving orthopedic aids and for treatment across the board.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Poster displays that describe a technique, case study, case series, clinical trial, systematic review, or experiment allowed attendees further educational opportunities.[/caption] Among the awards given out were the Brian and Joyce Blatchford Team Prize for Innovation, which is presented to a team with an outstanding record of innovative achievement in O&P, and the Forchheimer Prize, which is presented at every World Congress to recognize the most outstanding paper on objective clinical assessment, clinical evaluation, or clinical measurement published in Prosthetics and Orthotics International (POI) during the years prior to the Congress. The 2017 Blatchford Award was presented to Rickard Brånemark, MD, MSc, PhD; Max Ortiz Catalan, PhD; Bo Håkansson, PhD; and Örjan Berlin, MD, for their project, "The Search for the Perfect Substitution for a Lost Extremity." The study, "A Systematic Review of Questionnaires to Assess Patient Satisfaction With Limb Orthoses," was selected for the 2017 Forchheimer Prize. It was authored by Elisa Bettoni, MD; Giorgio Ferriero, MD; Hadeel Bakhsh, PhD; Elisabetta Bravini, PT, PhD; Giuseppe Massazza, MD; and Franco Franchignoni, MD, and published in POI , vol. 40, 2: pp. 158-69 (2016).

The 17th ISPO World Congress is slated for October 5-8, 2019, in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.

ISPO World Congress 2017: Assistive Technology for All

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ISPO World Congress 2017: Assistive Technology for All

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