Uganda’s Ministry of Health has launched the National Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Strategic Plan 2025–2030, a major national framework designed to integrate, coordinate and expand rehabilitation and assistive technology services across the country.
The launch marks an important step for Uganda’s health system, particularly for people with disabilities, older persons, children with developmental needs, people recovering from injury or illness, and those requiring prosthetics, orthotics, wheelchairs, mobility aids or other assistive devices. Ahead of the launch, Ugandan rehabilitation stakeholders described the strategy as a roadmap for advancing equitable access to quality rehabilitation and assistive technology services for all.
For the prosthetics, orthotics and rehabilitation community across IMEA, Uganda’s new strategy is significant because it moves rehabilitation and assistive technology closer to the centre of national health planning.
The new strategy is intended to help bring essential rehabilitation and assistive technology services closer to people who need them. This is especially important in Uganda, where access to rehabilitation services has historically been uneven and where many people with disabilities face barriers linked to cost, geography, awareness, workforce availability and availability of assistive products.
A 2023 Uganda STARS report noted that there was previously no dedicated National Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Strategic Plan for Uganda, although the country had established Ministry of Health coordination structures and a technical working group for rehabilitation services and assistive technology.
The 2025–2030 strategy therefore represents a major policy milestone. It gives Uganda a clearer national direction for strengthening services, coordinating stakeholders, improving access and supporting people with disabilities through the health system.
Assistive technology is not a luxury. For many people, it is the difference between isolation and participation.
A prosthetic limb can help a person return to work.
An orthosis can support a child with cerebral palsy to stand or walk.
A wheelchair can enable school attendance or community mobility.
A hearing aid, communication aid or adapted device can improve independence and inclusion.
The World Health Organization identifies assistive technology as essential for improving functioning, independence and participation. Rehabilitation is also recognised by WHO as a core health service that helps people optimise function and reduce disability in interaction with their environment. WHO’s rehabilitation topic page provides the global health framework for this work.
For Uganda, the challenge is to make these services available not only in major centres, but across districts, regional referral hospitals, community services and specialist rehabilitation providers.
The launch also highlights the long-standing role of Katalemwa Cheshire Home in Uganda’s rehabilitation sector. Katalemwa Cheshire Home describes itself as a Ugandan development non-profit organisation established in 1970, involved in the rehabilitation of children with disabilities and other vulnerable children.
For more than 50 years, Katalemwa has contributed to disability rehabilitation through clinical services, community-based support, assistive technology provision and its Assistive Technology Centre. Its work has helped build practical rehabilitation capacity for children and families who might otherwise struggle to access specialist care.
In the context of the new national strategy, organisations such as Katalemwa are critical. Government strategy provides direction, but implementation depends on experienced service providers, clinicians, technicians, community workers, NGOs, hospitals, training institutions, development partners and disabled persons’ organisations working together.
For prosthetists, orthotists and orthopaedic technologists, Uganda’s new plan should be seen as a major opportunity.
The strategy can support stronger systems for:
This is especially important because assistive devices require more than one-time delivery. A prosthesis, orthosis or wheelchair must be assessed, fitted, trained, maintained and reviewed. Without follow-up and repair, devices may be abandoned or become unsafe.
The success of the 2025–2030 strategy will depend on implementation. Uganda now has the opportunity to move from fragmented access toward a more coordinated national rehabilitation system.
Key priorities should include:
The launch is therefore not an endpoint. It is the beginning of a five-year national effort to make rehabilitation more visible, more accessible and more accountable.
Uganda’s National Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Strategic Plan 2025–2030 is a landmark development for East Africa and the wider IMEA rehabilitation community.
It shows that rehabilitation and assistive technology are increasingly being recognised as essential parts of healthcare, not optional charity services. It also demonstrates the importance of partnership between government, long-standing organisations such as Katalemwa Cheshire Home, health facilities, professional bodies, development partners and disability advocates.
For IMEA CPO, the key message is clear: national rehabilitation strategies matter. They create the policy foundation for better access, stronger services, workforce investment and long-term assistive technology provision.
Uganda’s challenge now is to translate the plan into practical change for people with disabilities across the country. If implemented effectively, the 2025–2030 strategy could become an important model for rehabilitation planning across Africa.