Assistive Health Technologies

Though more than one billion people worldwide currently need assistive technology, only one in ten have access. There is a huge and unmet need for assistive technology, an umbrella term covering the systems and services related to the delivery of assistive products—such as wheelchairs, eyeglasses, hearing aids, prosthetics—and related services. 

Assistive technology enables people to live healthy, productive, independent, and dignified lives, and to participate in education, the labor market, and civic life. Assistive technology can reduce the need for formal healthcare and support services and long-term care. Without assistive technology, people are often excluded, isolated, and locked into poverty, thereby increasing the impact of decreased function and disability on individuals, their families, and society.

USAID Response

USAID’s Assistive Technology programs improve access to appropriate wheelchairs, eyeglasses, and other assistive technology and trained service providers in low- and middle-income countries. USAID’s approach aims to achieve the following:

• Strengthen policies and systems that supply assistive products and related services
• Improve local capacity and access to quality services
• Ensure a sustainable supply of quality and affordable assistive products 
• Develop and disseminate service and product standards

Program Highlights

• ATscale: USAID is a founding member of ATscale, the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology, which aims to help 500 million people access assistive technologies by 2030.
• Consolidating Logistics and Assistive Technology Supply and Provision (CLASP) improves the availability of and access to appropriate assistive technology in less-resourced settings and promotes quality service provision. The project focuses on consolidating the procurement of quality assured wheelchairs and other mobility equipment and offering those products through a simplified procurement mechanism. CLASP simplified procurement for service providers, offers a variety of products, reduces order lead times, and offers economies of scale on purchasing.
• International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP) works to professionalize the wheelchair sector through increased coordination with wheelchair manufacturers and service providers and leads the standardization of products and services in the wheelchair sector. 

• ATscale Strategy Overview
• ATscale Product Narrative: Wheelchairs
• ATScale Investment Case
• Guidelines on the Provision of Manual Wheelchairs in Less-Resourced Settings
• Wheelchair Service Training Package - Basic Level
• Wheelchair Service Training Package - Intermediate Level
• Wheelchair Service Training Package for Managers and Stakeholders