Empowering lives of people with SCI: unlocking the transformative potential of the World Health Assembly's resolution on rehabilitation - the 2024 ISCoS lecture.

Study design: Narrative review.

Objectives: To summarize the key messages presented during the ISCoS lecture at the 63rd ISCoS Annual Meeting, focusing on the global rehabilitation landscape, particularly regarding spinal cord injury.

Setting: Not applicable.

Methods: The review starts by providing an overview of the World Health Organization (WHO) Rehabilitation 2030 initiative. It then describes how to bridge evidence with rehabilitation practice and the role of CochraneRehab.

Results: Rehabilitation is contextualized within Rehabilitation 2030 and the World Health Assembly resolution on strengthening rehabilitation in health systems, highlighting significant policy shifts and technical tools developed by the WHO. The increase in global rehabilitation needs is outlined, citing estimates that nearly one-third of the global population could benefit from rehabilitation services. The role of CochraneRehab is discussed as a catalyst for enhancing primary research quality, evidence synthesis, and knowledge dissemination in rehabilitation. The review advocates for alternative study designs and innovative methodologies, including big data and artificial intelligence, to address persistent evidence gaps in spinal cord injury.

Conclusions: In this pivotal moment for global rehabilitation, all stakeholders must unite to implement the WHA resolution and advocate for quality rehabilitation services in health systems and high-quality, innovative research methods to address evidence gaps like those in spinal cord injury care. This requires generating and disseminating evidence-based interventions and overcoming the inherent challenges of implementing these changes in everyday clinical practice.