Advancing Population Health Through Rehabilitation Services

Dear Colleagues,

Rehabilitation services are essential health services for optimizing functioning in individuals with health conditions in interaction with their environment. Hence, rehabilitation is a critical public health strategy to improve population health and well-being, adding to societal welfare. Over the last decades, there have been substantial contributions from non-governmental organizations, academia and the private sector to support the strengthening of health systems for rehabilitation in countries around the world. The impact, however, of these efforts in terms of improved accessibility of quality rehabilitation services for country populations remains to be seen. Globally, an estimated 2.6 billion individuals are living with a health condition that would benefit from rehabilitation, contributing to 340 million years of healthy life lost due to disability (YLD). Many people, however, have limited access to the required rehabilitation services, and, for several reasons, rehabilitation remains underprioritized in many countries. When identifying the key components impeding the prioritization of rehabilitation across different national contexts, it has been reported that rehabilitation lacks a consistent and local problem definition, undermining the development of consensus- and data-driven solutions to advance policy and services that are perceived as politically feasible and acceptable in the domestic context. Hence, the strengthening of countries’ evidence ecosystems for rehabilitation is essential. Local research and health information is needed for describing population health gains that can be related to the health budget for rehabilitation. It is important to nurture environments for knowledge exchange in order to trigger and answer policy-relevant questions. This Special Issue invites papers in this area, especially those combining a high academic standard and a practical focus on increasing the understanding of rehabilitation as a key strategy for improving public health and providing evidence for informing local policy options. Original research articles and reviews are welcome. We look forward to hearing from you. olleag

Dr. Wouter De Groote
Guest Editor

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