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Critical Care

The challenge of rehabilitation following critical illness in low-income countries

23 November 2023
Regulars
02 November 2023
Volume 32 · Issue 21

Rehabilitation 2030, an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) Initiative, was designed to elevate rehabilitation as an essential health service and a core component of universal health coverage (UHC), and in consequence advocates for ‘strong leadership and political support for rehabilitation at sub-national, national and global levels’ (WHO, 2023a).

In doing this, WHO (2023b) identifies rehabilitation as a crucial element of patient care and not an optional extra that is provided when problems become apparent. However, it remains a cause for concern that in low-income countries (LIC) the rehabilitation needs of patients are largely unmet (WHO, 2023b).

In these countries the concept of critical care has been widely debated (Bock and Cox, 2017; Wall et al, 2018) and even, in some cases, described as a ‘luxury’ (Dart et al, 2017). Critics argue that critical care may not significantly decrease overall mortality and that the development of such services is unrealistic. The inference traditionally has been that with limited resources, the focus should be on prevention and investment in programmes such as mass-immunisation projects and primary healthcare services (Basnet et al, 2011).

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