On July 14 and15 the WHO, together with the Global Alliance of Assistive Technology Organizations (GAATO), co-led several sessions at the Joint International Conference on Digital Inclusion, Assistive Technology and Accessibility ICCHP-AAATE 2022 in Lecco, Italy, to disseminate the findings of the recently launched Global Report on Assistive Technology (GReAT).

The policy session on July 14 "The WHO-UNICEF Global Report on Assistive Technology: Moving Forward together" brought together panelists from different organizations to open a dialogue on the GReAT recommendations, exploring their implementation and identifying priorities for actions to advance access to assistive technology worldwide.

Two scientific sessions on July 14 and 15 presented the work WHO and partners have done to collect data on population access to assistive technology. 11 countries presented their experiences and the findings of their investigations using the WHO rapid Assistive Technology Assessment tool (rATA). The methodology and findings are published in the open access conference proceedings available here.

The inclusion forum on July 15 "Measuring population access to assistive technology" engaged global stakeholders to reflect on the methodology, process and outcome of measuring population access using the WHO rATA tool and to set up an action plan for data collection for the WHA Progress Report on improving access to assistive technology in 2026.

During the forum WHO launched a call for experts to form a working group on continued data collection on population access to assistive technology, including:

- further development, improvement of the WHO rATA questionnaire;

- improvement on data collection and analysis process for WHA Progress Report; and

- a global platform / forum on sharing of data, knowledge and experience.

If you are interested in getting involved fill in the form here!