2020 is well underway and so too the new decade. For the the World Health Organisation the Decade of Action begins, an ambitious global effort to mobilise governments, civil society and big business to make the Sustainable Development Goals a reality. The Decade of Action calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world’s biggest challenges — ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap.
To underline the sustainable development goals the WHO has created a list of the most urgent global health challenges facing us all this decade. The list has been created by experts around the world and reflect deep concern that leaders are not investing enough into their health systems.
The Urgent Health Challenges of The Decade
- Evaluating Health in the Climate Debate
- Delivering Health in Conflict and Crisis
- Making Health Care Fairer
- Expanding Access to Medicines
- Stopping Infectious Diseases
- Preparing for Epidemics
- Protecting People from Dangerous Products
- Investing in The Peple Who Defend Our Health
- Keeping Adolescents Safe
- Earning Public Trust
- Harnissing New Technologies
- Protecting The Medicines That Protect Us
- Keeping Health Care Clean
In the press release each challenge is expanded upon and WHO explain what they are doing to combat each individually. Clearly this is a mammoth challenge and it is unlikely that WHO will be able to solve all of these problems without our help. It is our professions responsibility to contribute where we can to overcome the challenges within our capacity. It also gives us opportunity to think about how we can help in areas we haven’t before.
For our profession this list poses a more specific question – What are the biggest challenges facing Physiotherapy this decade?
The Role of Physiopedia
You can be sure Physiopedia will be helping oversome these challenges where it can. Physiopedia is the most popular rehabilitation website in the world and is uniquely placed to help address many of these challenges. Most notably through making healthcare education easily accessible and being directly involved at improving rehab provision worldwide. We make rehab education and knowledge equitable and more accessbile for many low- and middle- income countries. We are here to help reduce the gulf in service provision around the world and we will make sure Physiopedia is part of the agenda moving forwards.
Through our involvement in projects such as PREP (Physiotherapy and Refugees Education Project) and our own Physical Activity Project we can specifically focus attention to challenges highlighted by WHO but also link the sustainable development goals and Rehab: 2030.