Estimating need and coverage for five priority assistive products: A systematic review of global population based research

A comprehensive understanding of global assistive technology (AT) marketplaces is essential to identify unmet needs, argue for political prioritisation, attract innovation and investment, develop best practices for AT delivery, and ultimately expand access to AT. Yet data on assistive technology (both products and associated services) are challenging to identify and compare, limiting their potential use for informed decision-making. This is the result of barriers at market-level and in the research sector.

To contribute to a global effort to increase the AT evidence base, we conducted a systematic review of studies which generated population-based data on AP access indicators for five priority APs (hearing aids, wheelchairs, prosthetics, glasses, or personal digital assistants). This review aims to (1) characterize existing population-level research producing estimates of AP access indicators for the five APs and (2) present and synthesise global data on AP access indicators to support scaling up AT provision.

This review builds on the findings of an initial scoping review, commissioned by the WHO and published separately which primarily focused on methods used for estimating AP supply and demand at market-level.

You can access the data visualised on a map via the AT Data Portal.

You can access the link to the publisher here