Consideration on the improvement of assistive products' availability and the awareness of rehabilitation professionals in Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In Bangladesh, 9.1% of people are disabled, but production and distribution of assistive products (AP) have not been sufficient up to now. Ensuring APs are in the market, and suggesting appropriate APs to the users, are two crucial points in Bangladesh, but there are no data about available APs and the awareness of rehabilitation professionals (RP). To improve this situation, this research was carried out to reveal the number of available APs and the awareness of RPs about APs. METHOD: Data from two important disability-oriented organizations in Bangladesh were collected, including RPs from those organizations. RESULTS: The result revealed that 23 out of 50 kinds of APs from the assistive products list (APL) of WHO were available in Bangladesh. In terms of awareness, an average of 24 APs from the APL were known by the RPs. Only 6% of RPs knew all the 23 APs available in Bangladesh. A total of 47% of RPs got information on APs from the internet, but 92% of them didn't know any database of APs. CONCLUSION: The study indicated that APs are insufficient, and the awareness of RPs about APs is inadequate in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]