Dear members,
Dear partners,
Dear all.
It is with great pleasure, that I am inviting you to attend the 9th FATO International Congress, which will be held in Marrakech, the “red city”, in central Morocco, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, from 24 to 28 November 2020 March 29th – April 2nd 2022.
FATO, as we have always known, experienced at the beginning of the year 2019 an inevitable important change, due to its growth and the professional diversity of its members. FATO became the “African Federation of Rehabilitation Professionals”, always keeping the acronym FATO, but no longer just a Federation of African Orthopaedic Technologists.
It is therefore with its new cap that FATO will organize this 9th Congress, whose program has been cut, designed and sculpted to be of quality, to promote access to speakers from all countries, all professions, and of course continue the development of our network of excellence.
The scientific committee headed by Claude Tardif, selected the theme “Equitable and universal access to rehabilitation and assistive technology services in Africa” for this FATO 2020 2022 Congress. This theme goes along with:
- the objectives of the sustainable development goals where governments are expected to take the lead and put in place national frameworks to reach a world where everyone enjoys equitable access to quality education at all levels, to health care and social protection, where physical and mental health and social well-being are ensured.
- the WHO universal health coverage objectives aiming at ensuring that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without facing financial difficulties.
- And at last with the objectives of FATO to promote access to functional rehabilitation for persons with disabilities in Africa through the establishment of a network of professionals and through different actions such as the establishment of an observatory of good practices, advocacy toward policy makers, the creation of framework for cooperation, training and exchange of experience between the African countries themselves and with the other countries of the world, etc.
FATO would like to rely on all of you, to achieve this objective and bring real changes in the rehabilitation sector and in the lives of persons with disabilities in Africa.
Whether you’re rehabilitation professionals (ortho-prosthetists, podo-orthotists, physiotherapists, rehabilitation physicians, surgeons, occupational therapists, speech therapists, community-based rehabilitation workers, etc.), whether you’re an association of/for persons with disabilities, whether you are policy-makers, whether you are a centre managers, whether you are a non-governmental organization, whether you are representatives of the industry, you are all invited to come and share your experiences, constraints and successes, in the pursuit of achieving equitable access and universal to rehabilitation services in Africa.
The program is designed in such a way, that each of you, could contribute, through scientific oral and poster communications, symposiums, exhibitions of new technologies, workshops practical demonstrations, plenary sessions, etc.
All FATO committees are hard at work to offer you the best congress and your participation and contribution will be essential to give meaning to all this work.
So I hope to see you again at the 2020 2022 FATO Congress in Marrakech.
Dear members, dear partners, dear all, please receive my best regards.
Masse NIANG
President of FATO