Improving Access to Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology After Amputation in the Pacific Region

Please note that this is a hybrid event. For online attendance please sign up to obtain the Zoom link. Access link will be delivered via email upon registration.

The rate of diabetes related amputation in the Pacific is alarming, resulting in generational impacts on people, families, communities and health systems. Rehabilitation services for people after amputation, and access to assistive technology such as prostheses (prosthetic legs), wheelchairs and walking aids, are important aspects of recovery. Further, the experience of disability can be more pronounced if people are unable to access such services. Recent developments enabling greater access to rehabilitation services in the Pacific have largely been in response to growing demands, regional and global advocacy for equitable access and increased focus on disability inclusive development. Despite these normative frameworks and goals, there remains significant inequity in access to rehabilitation and assistive technology services across diverse populations.

This seminar will introduce proposed research to explore rehabilitation services for people after amputation in Fiji and Kiribati. The research aims to identify how Pacific, culturally-informed equity of access to rehabilitation and assistive technology after amputation can be defined and improved. It will explore rehabilitation priorities and needs after amputation and intersectional factors influencing access. It will also consider what people centred and equitable service means within the Pacific context and the potential role of communities in service design and delivery.

Lee Brentnall is a PhD candidate with the Department of Pacific Affairs. She has extensive experience in design and development of integrated rehabilitation and assistive technology services in the Pacific and Asia, with specific technical expertise in prosthetic and orthotic service provision. Lee has worked in the NGO sector and in health and disability services. Throughout her career she has had various roles, including as a prosthetist orthotist clinician, clinical educator, lecturer and programme manager.