Ladies,
gentlemen,
Dear members,
Dear Partners,

It is a great pleasure for me to invite you to the 9th FATO International Congress!

This 9th FATO Congress will be held in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the most populous French-speaking country in Africa, domain of mountains, hills, Great Lakes, volcanoes and also domain of wooded savannahs, forming a high plateau rich in minerals. The congres is planned to be held from November 17 to 22, 2024.

For this congress, the scientific committee of our continental federation has chosen the following theme for this Congress FATO 2024 : “Promoting Equitable Access to Rehabilitation Services and Assistive Technologies in Africa“, which is totally in line with the objectives of health coverage of the World Health Organization, one of the targets that countries around the world set for themselves when they adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, and the findings of the Global Report on Assistive Technologies for the implementation of priority interventions aimed at increasing access to assistive technologies as mentioned in the “Regional Strategic Action Framework to improve access to assistive technologies in the African Region of the WHO».

Achieving such a situation of equitable and universal coverage of rehabilitation services and assistive technologies in Africa would enable people to benefit from the rehabilitation services they need without facing financial difficulties, and to receive quality care that is good enough to improve their health. , their quality of life and their social participation.

This is the objective of the FATO for this 9^th Congress!

FATO would like to rely on all of you to make it happen and bring a real change in the world of rehabilitation and especially in the lives of people with physical disabilities throughout Africa.

Whether you are Orthoprosthetists, Physiotherapists, Physical Rehabilitation Physicians, Surgeons, Government Organization, Non Governmental Organization, Association of / for Persons with Disabilities, Speech Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Policy Makers, Suppliers, Industrialists, Biomechanists, Podo-Orthotists, People Responsible for Rehabilitation centers, this 9th Congress and its goal challenge us all to come together and lay the foundations of this universal access to rehabilitation services, and to define the ways and means by which this access will become real.

Here is the time to act, quickly, well and efficiently in rehabilitation in Africa!

The program is designed so that everyone can find his/her own place, make his/her contribution and make his/her contribution, through oral and written scientific communications, symposia, exhibitions of new technologies, practical demonstration workshops, training sessions and workshops, general discussions, and many others.

All FATO committees are hard at work to offer you the best of the FATO Congresses and your participation and contribution will be essential to give meaning to all this work.

 So I hope to see you again at this 2024 FATO Congress

Ladies and gentlemen, dear members, dear partners, please receive my best regards.

Timothee M. PAKOUYOWOU
President of FATO