National Rehabilitation Center Re-designated as WHO Collaborating Center for Rehabilitation

The National Rehabilitation Center under the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 16th that it has been re-designated as a WHO Collaborating Center in the field of rehabilitation and will continue its role as a collaborating center for four years until January 12, 2029.

Exterior view of the National Rehabilitation Center located in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul.

WHO Collaborating Centers work with WHO to support tasks aimed at maintaining and improving the health of the global population through research, education, technical support, and information sharing across various health fields. Currently, more than 800 WHO Collaborating Centers are designated in 80 countries worldwide, among which 10 institutions in 8 countries operate as collaborating centers in the field of rehabilitation.

Since being designated as the first WHO Collaborating Center in rehabilitation in Korea in 2017, the National Rehabilitation Center has provided international training programs to strengthen the capacities of rehabilitation personnel (doctors, nurses, therapists, etc.) in low- and middle-income countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia, and Fiji. It has also actively conducted activities such as hosting international forums on disability and rehabilitation and research on building international disability data.

Through this re-designation, over the next four years, the center plans to continue cooperation with WHO in various areas in the Western Pacific region, including ▲ integrated rehabilitation including assistive technology ▲ improving health equity for persons with disabilities ▲ technical support for integrating rehabilitation into healthcare ▲ strengthening the roles of policymakers and health workers in rehabilitation and disability equity policies and programs.

Kang Yoon-gyu, Director of the National Rehabilitation Center, stated, "Taking this opportunity of re-designation as a WHO Collaborating Center, we will continuously strive to ensure that Korea plays an important role not only in the development of domestic rehabilitation medical care and services but also in the international rehabilitation field."