United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Our objective is to support partners to become self-reliant and capable of leading their own development journeys. We make progress toward this by reducing the reach of conflict, preventing the spread of pandemic disease, and counteracting the drivers of violence, instability, transnational crime and other security threats. We promote American prosperity through investments that expand markets for U.S. exports; create a level playing field for U.S. businesses; and support more stable, resilient, and democratic societies. We stand with people when disaster strikes or crisis emerges as the world leader in humanitarian assistance.
World Health Organization (WHO)
We are building a better, healthier future for people all over the world. Working with 194 Member States, across six regions, and from more than 150 offices, WHO staff are united in a shared commitment to achieve better health for everyone, everywhere. Together we strive to combat diseases – communicable diseases like influenza and HIV, and noncommunicable diseases like cancer and heart disease. We help mothers and children survive and thrive so they can look forward to a healthy old age. We ensure the safety of the air people breathe, the food they eat, the water they drink – and the medicines and vaccines they need.
Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO)
Health Volunteers Overseas improves the availability and quality of health care through the education, training and professional development of the health workforce in resource-scarce countries. HVO envisions a world where all people have access to high quality health care delivered by local health professionals.
Wheelchairs are at the heart of our work – but not just any wheelchair. We believe passionately in providing the right wheelchair, in the right way. That means our wheelchairs are designed to deal with potholed roads, rough terrain and rural environments found in developing countries. At the same time we promote the importance of making sure that each wheelchair is individually fitted by a trained professional to World Health Organization standards. And this is just the start. To really put the wheels in motion, we work with partners and volunteers to make sure disabled people have support and training to be healthy, confident and included in society. They’re not the only ones to benefit: families, communities, even economies feel the positive change.
Traditionally recognized as an institution specialized in health sciences, Unifesp is responsible for the training of qualified human resources and the development of scientific research in health. Its core is the Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM), whose foundation dates back to 1933 and was supported by private funds and government subsidies until its federalization in 1956. With the enactment of Law No. 8957 in 1994, EPM turned into a federal university, keeping the courses in Medial Science, Nursing, Biomedical Sciences, Speech Therapy and Ophthalmic Technology – which now integrates the Health Technologies.
Free Wheelchair Mission believes in a world where everyone who needs a wheelchair has one. Our goal is to provide our next million wheelchairs by 2025. With an estimated 75 million people around the world today in need of a wheelchair without the means to get one, Free Wheelchair Mission endeavors to distribute over 100,000 wheelchairs annually and continues to pursue our goal to distribute our second million wheelchairs by the end of 2025. Free Wheelchair Mission continues its focus and commitment on becoming a leading provider of mobility in developing nations, but beyond placing recipients in a wheelchair, Free Wheelchair Mission is bringing transformation that opens doors to education, employment opportunities, and community that these individuals only dreamed of before receiving the gift of mobility.
Founded in 1996, UCP Wheels for Humanity increases access to mobility and improves quality of life for children and adults with physical disabilities in less-resourced countries. UCP Wheels makes strategic investments in communities by leveraging existing capacities and empowering local stakeholders. Based on the needs of each region in which we work, we offer one or more of our direct-service or capacity-building programs. These include the provision of appropriately fitted wheelchairs and empowerment programs, as well as advocacy and training initiatives that create sustainable, community-based systems to support long-term change.
Posture and Mobility Group (PMG)
Founded in 1992 as a conference to advance and disseminate knowledge about the posture and wheeled mobility needs of people with disabilities. We are now a membership organisation and Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with the aim of sharing knowledge and promoting best practice in the field of posture and wheeled mobility. Currently, we have over 1000 members, the majority of whom are professionals working in rehabilitation, focusing on the provision of wheelchairs and special seating. One of our main activities as a CIO remains organising our annual conference, which allows professionals to come together to learn and share knowledge, view products in a large industry exhibition and network with colleagues. We have also expanded significantly since 1992 to provide a journal, research grants, additional training events, free bursary places for those new to the field, as well as a wealth of information about external training events, job vacancies, relevant news, best practice guidelines and other important publications and reports.
Dalhousie University is proudly located in Halifax, Nova Scotia which is ranked one of the friendliest cities in the world. Founded in 1818, we’re one of Canada’s oldest universities, attracting more than 19,000 students from around the world. We make a lasting impact by blending transformative academic programs with pioneering research on Canada’s East Coast.
Loh Medical’s mission is to promote mobility & independence by helping people with physical disabilities through the application of appropriate Assistive Technology. In support of their mission, they offer the following services: advisory, training, technical assistance and product portfolio.
At Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin we provide a liberal environment where independence of thought is highly valued and all are encouraged to achieve their potential. We promote a diverse, interdisciplinary, inclusive environment which nurtures ground-breaking research, innovation, and creativity through engaging with issues of global significance. Located in a beautiful campus in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, Trinity is Ireland’s highest ranked university. It is home to 17,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students across all the major disciplines in the arts and humanities, and in business, law, engineering, science, and health sciences. Trinity’s tradition of independent intellectual inquiry has produced some of the world’s finest, most original minds including the writers Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett (Nobel laureate), the scientists William Rowan Hamilton and Ernest Walton (Nobel laureate), the political thinker Edmund Burke, and the former President of Ireland and UNHCR Mary Robinson. This tradition finds expression today in a campus culture of scholarship, innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and dedication to societal reform.
Here at Permobil, we take a personal approach to wheelchairs and seating systems. That’s a bold statement that speaks to the history of our three companies – Permobil, TiLite and ROHO – and to our combined strength in the complex rehab industry. It means every product we create is inspired by the real lives of people with disabilities. It means each of our employees strives every day to solve the challenges of mobility, comfort and safety. Challenges our customers face every day. And it means that, no matter what our customers are striving for, we’re there to support them, using the latest technologies and our own ingenuity. Why? Because we believe everyone has the right to the same standards. That what a person is capable of should never be a question of ability.
Co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, Humanity & Inclusion (the new name of Handicap International) is a 37-year-old independent and impartial organization working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. We work alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, taking action and bearing witness in order to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. With local partners, we run programs in health and rehabilitation and social and economic integration. We work with local authorities to clear landmines and other war debris and to prevent mine-related accidents through education. We respond quickly and effectively to natural and civil disasters in order to limit serious and permanent injuries and to assist survivors’ recovery and reintegration. We advocate for the universal recognition of the rights of people with disabilities through national planning and advocacy. Humanity & Inclusion is the world’s most comprehensive mine action charity. The heart of this action is victim assistance—this was our beginning in 1982—but teams also prevent injuries through weapons and landmine clearance, risk education activities, stockpile management, and advocacy to ban landmines and cluster bombs.
International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC)
The work of the ICRC is based on the Geneva Conventions of 1949, their Additional Protocols, its Statutes those of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the resolutions of the International Conferences of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. The ICRC is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and armed violence. It takes action in response to emergencies and promotes respect for international humanitarian law and its implementation in national law.
The American Wheelchair Mission is a non-profit organization with a goal to deliver brand new, free wheelchairs and mobility aids to physically disabled children, teens and adults throughout the world who are without mobility or the means to acquire a wheelchair. With a strong focus on the needs of the Americas, the American Wheelchair Mission will continue to change the lives of entire families with the gifts of hope, dignity, freedom and independence.
Yonsei University will fulfill the responsibility of social contribution by spearheading the basic role of universities in education and research innovation. We will prepare for the next 100 years by sharing and practicing the values of Christianity, Creativity, and Connectivity that constitute the founding spirit of Yonsei.
Fraunhofer IPA – one of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s largest institutes– was founded in 1959 and employs nearly 1000 workers. It has an annual budget of over 70 million euros, with more than one third coming from industrial projects. Organizational and technological assignments related to manufacturing are the focus of our research and development work. We develop, test and implement methods, components and equipment right up to complete machines and plants.
Latter-day Saint Charities is the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our purpose is to relieve suffering, foster self-reliance and provide opportunities for service. Sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Latter-day Saint Charities follows the admonition of Jesus Christ to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in the stranger, clothe the naked and visit the sick and afflicted. Unique in its support structure, Latter-day Saint Charities has access to the resources of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which include funding and local volunteer support. More than one million workdays of labor are contributed each year by volunteers in support of welfare initiatives.
The University of Pittsburgh is a state-related research university, founded as the Pittsburgh Academy in 1787. Pitt is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), which comprises 62 preeminent doctorate-granting research institutions in North America.
At CES University we are autonomous, non-denominational private, non-profit, in search of the formation of professionals in pre and postgraduate in all areas of knowledge, with the highest human, ethical and scientific qualities. Founded on July 5, 1977, excellence has been the permanent challenge of the educational project, seeking to innovate in the training of human resources, advancing in the internationalization of the institution and developing the virtual component of its educational proposal with the purpose that professional practice of our graduates be recognized not only at the national level but also internationally.
Featuring ten faculties, five graduate schools, one professional school, two research institutes and a university hospital, Niigata University is a large-scale university covering a comprehensive range of academic fields-including humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, medical and dental sciences and much more. Niigata University endeavors to promote distinctive, world-class research within each of these various fields. In addition, Niigata University strives to cultivate students’ global competence, and develop students who possess both the high-level expertise and refined sensibilities needed to tackle 21st-century challenges while playing an active role in a wide range of fields throughout the world. Thus, Niigata University actively promotes independent and creative studies for our students while also striving to be an international base for research and education, constantly improving the level of our post-graduate education while promoting collaborative research with overseas universities and institutes.
ROME – Rehabilitation & Outcome Measures Assessment
ROME – Rehabilitation & Outcome Measures Assessment is a non-profit organization based in Rome (Italy). ROME is mainly engaged in research and training activities with a specific focus on rehabilitation, disability and healthcare management. Founded in 2016 by a group of independent researchers, it is constantly engaged in the dissemination of Evidence-Based Practice through the validation of outcome measures, systematic reviews with meta-analysis and some clinical studies. The association carries out its initiatives independently or in partnership with other organizations, universities or research centers.
