SHORT COMMUNICATION
THE BALTIC AND NORTH SEA FORUM ON PHYSICAL AND REHABILITATION MEDICINE
TARTU DECLARATION ON THE RESPONSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WITH REGARD TO REHABILITATION DURING AND AFTER RUSSIAN MILITARY INVASION IN UKRAINE
Citation: J Rehabil Med 2022; 54: jrm00329. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2340/jrm.v54.4436
Copyright: © Published by Medical Journals Sweden, on behalf of the Foundation for Rehabilitation Information. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
Published: Aug 21, 2022
The Baltic and North Sea Forum on Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine was founded in 2008 in Riga, Latvia. It aims at improving rehabilitation services within the region by exchange of knowledge and concepts, support education, training and science and building up networks across borders. The Forum is a non-profit-organization and committed to human rights, democratic principles and interprofessional team work. Leading principle is to ensure that all persons in need of rehabilitation will have access to qualified rehabilitation services.
With regard to the military invasion of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory and the resulting war, the Baltic and North Sea Forum on Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine urges governments and non-state actors in the Baltic and North Sea region to take concerted action to protect vulnerable groups from violence, to enable people with physical injury and mental trauma access to rehabilitation services and to prepare for the (re-) implementation of rehabilitation services in the health system. This includes
- to take action and to enable and support initiatives to protect persons with disabilities, people with old age and children from military violence
- to include rehabilitation measures in support programs for war victims that will be treated in neighboring countries
- to support people in need of rehabilitation including persons with disabilities and people with chronic health conditions to receive the services they need, e.g. by supporting local rehabilitation services or by offering rehabilitation services abroad
- to make plans for concerted action to rebuild and establish rehabilitation services in Ukraine, including funding, knowledge transfer and the provision of technical and human resources.
The Baltic and North Sea Forum on Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine is willing to support these actions by providing expertise and networks of rehabilitation professionals.
Tartu, in June 2022
Prof. Alvydas Joucevicious
on behalf of the Board of the BNF-PRM