Repair strategies for assistive technology in low resource settings.

The results of this analysis demonstrate the paramount importance of community-based repair of devices, and how despite this importance, repair is often overlooked in the planning and design of assistive products and services. There is a need to further incorporate and support these informal contributions as part of the formal provision systems of assistive device.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONA lack of available specialist repair services in low resource settings hinders the potential impact of assistive technology provision systems.Community-based repair is the major route by which assistive devices are repaired in low resource settings.Appropriate community-based repair strategies should be incorporated into and supported by the formal assistive technology provision models in order to optimise outcomes.A lack of data on outcomes across the lifecycle of assistive products hinders progress on improving focus on follow-up services - in particular repair & maintenance.By supporting community-based repair, repairs that are inappropriate for that approach could be better directed to specialist repair services.