Dear colleagues and friends,
As we leave 2022 behind us, it is a good opportunity to look at the year’s achievements.
With the aim of gaining efficiency in the management of the Society, we have continued to work on our “digital renovation”, the ISPO website have been completely renew and we have launched a new membership platform enhancing the abilities for member exchange.
We also developed new benefits for our members, the main one being the launch of the ISPOLearn platform where members can access quality professional development training resources. ISPOLearn will continue to evolve over the years and all members are invited to submit training resources.
On November 5th, we launch the first International Prosthetic and Orthotic Day, to highlight and raise the importance and the impact for those needing prostheses and orthoses and the need to provide further resources to ensure equitable and appropriate access to prosthetics and orthotics services.
The Education Committee organized a virtual edition of the Global Educators Meeting (GEM) which was attended by more than 130 participants. Accreditation of prosthetic and orthotic training programmes has continued, with numbers training programmes having successfully gone through accreditation or re-accreditation process this year.
Over the year, we participated in several high-level meetings related to rehabilitation and assistive technology. In June we participated, along with World Physiotherapy and the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, in a World Health Organization (WHO) meeting to support the development of competency-based rehabilitation education in central Asia and eastern European countries. In November, at the invitation of the WHO and the Egyptian government, we participated in meeting to strengthen prosthetic and orthotic services in Egypt.
Recognizing the importance of collaboration to achieve greater impact, ISPO jointed the Global Alliance of Assistive Technology Organizations (GAATO) and the World Rehabilitation Alliance (WRA) to improve access to equitable, appropriate, and quality rehabilitation and assistive products.
In 2023, ISPO will continue to work with its members and partners on projects aiming to improve the quality of life for persons who may benefit from the rehabilitation practice of prosthetic, orthotic, mobility, and assistive technology.
In 2023, projects such as the LEAD (Lower Extremity Amputation Dataset) and COMPASS (Consensus Outcome Measures for Prosthetic and Amputation Services) will continue to progress while other such the process of consensus-building around the use of digital technologies for manufacturing prostheses and orthoses (in collaboration with the Global Disability Innovation Hub) should culminate in the publication of a report on how digital transformation could improve the quality, availability, and accessibility of services.
In 2023, after more than four years without the possibility to see each other due to the pandemic, we will have the possibility to exchange and learn from each other at the ISPO 19th World Congress which will be held in Guadalajara (Mexico) between April 24th the 27th. At the end of the congress, a new Executive Board will take office and all ISPO Committees will continue their work.
I would like to take the opportunity to thanks ISPO Head Office staff for their work and all the volunteers who, in 2022, gave their time to the society as Executive Board members or as a member of one of ISPO Committee.
Wishing you all a great year ahead and looking forward to seeing you all in Guadalajara
Claude TARDIF
President