The Lomé Declaration, adopted at the close of the Regional Conference on the Physical Rehabilitation Sector in Francophone Africa, commits participating countries to closer cooperation through a new regional platform for consultation and collaboration. The conference was held in Lomé, Togo, from 3 to 6 November 2026 under the theme “Recognition of the orthoprosthetist profession and its integration into the civil service: developments, challenges and prospects”.
The outcome was reported on LinkedIn by Erick Mbuyi, Secretary General of the Association des Techniciens Orthopédistes du Congo (ATOC), the association of orthopaedic technicians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Mbuyi is an ISPO-certified orthopaedic technician and founder of OSF. His post was written in French; quotations below are IMEA CPO translations.
A DRC voice on the conference panel
Mbuyi spoke as a panellist alongside Masse Niang, former President of the African Federation of Orthopaedic Technicians and Director General of the Organisation Africaine pour le Développement des Centres pour Personnes Handicapées (OADCPH); Amadou Diallo, head of Mali’s Centre National d’Appareillage Orthopédique (CNAOM); and a representative of Togo’s Fédération Togolaise des Associations de Personnes Handicapées (FETAPH).
As ATOC Secretary General, he also reported back on the group work and presented proposals for the strategic priorities of the DRC’s physical rehabilitation roadmap, “carrying the voice and concerns of our profession”, as he put it.
Three priorities in the Lomé Declaration
According to Mbuyi, regional cooperation under the Lomé Declaration will focus on three priorities:
- Skills development, continuing education and the mobility of trainers between countries
- Advocacy for better recognition and the lasting structuring of the rehabilitation sector
- Sharing experience, expertise and good practice between countries
“Beyond the recognition of the orthoprosthetist profession, this initiative opens up a new perspective: building together a physical rehabilitation sector that is better structured, more collaborative and more fully integrated into public health policy,” he wrote.
He said he left Lomé convinced that recognition of the profession, stronger skills and regional cooperation are “essential levers” for improving access to rehabilitation services for the people who need them.
IMEA CPO Perspective
The conference, supported by the ICRC, brought together eight countries: Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, the Central African Republic and the DRC. In many of them, orthoprosthetists still lack a defined civil-service grade, a recognised career path and a fair salary scale, which makes it hard to train and retain staff in public rehabilitation centres.
A standing regional platform matters because these are shared problems. Trainer mobility can stretch the small number of ISPO-qualified educators across more countries, and joint advocacy gives national associations such as ATOC more weight with ministries of health and civil service. For CPOs in Francophone Africa, the Lomé Declaration is a practical opening: national roadmaps are now being drafted, and professional associations have a direct say in what goes into them. Countries are expected to report on their roadmaps at the next regional meeting in 2028.
IMEA CPO will follow how the regional platform is set up and how the DRC roadmap develops.
Suggested Hyperlinks
- Erick Mbuyi on LinkedIn (source post, in French)
- IMEA CPO: OADCPH hosts delegates from the ICRC Francophone Africa conference
- ICRC: Physical rehabilitation
- International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO)
- IMEA CPO: O&P Africa News