Assistive device expert goes to GReAT

NLR sponsored Hoa Pham, a Vietnamese orthopaedic technologist with extensive experience, to participate and contribute to the GReAT Consultation 2019 in Geneva.

The Global Report on effective access to Assistive Technology (GReAT) Consultation 2019 was held in Geneva on 22 and 23 August 2019 and brought academics, practitioners, policy makers, and assistive technology users together to guide the content development of the Global Report. There were 260 participants with diverse backgrounds including users, researchers, practitioners, innovators and educators from the global assistive technology community.

She concluded that: “the GReAT consultation covered a very wide range of issues. The discussions in plenary sessions or in the different working groups were an opportunity for the participants to express their views around the themes chosen for the discussions, building on the numerous reports and assessments that had been carried out previously in the frame of this consultation or before. This type of consultation is very important to give more emphasis on assistive technology and to raise its status as an important area of health. The conference built on studies originating from many countries. Although I specialise in technology and there was not much technical contribution, this conference was a great opportunity to improve my understanding about assistive technology and products which are very broad terms.”