Developing an International Occupational Therapy Service: Perspectives and Implications

Mali is one of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Limited infrastructure renders access to health care difficult. There is a need to establish functional ways to improve Malian people's health and treat disability. From this point of view, our project aims to implement a remote occupational therapy service for the beneficiaries of the Kalana clinic in Mali through international cooperation. Using a spiral iterative model, a proposal for a remote occupational therapy service was developed and refined for a multidisciplinary context. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) was used as a means to work from a multidisciplinary approach to treat all needs. The results are exemplified with a case report and qualitative impressions of the services.