Physiotherapist Janet Jeffrey hopes the MBE she received in the 2026 New Year Honours list will help to put the spotlight on the project she helps to run in Lesotho for children with disabilities.

Janet’s MBE recognised her contribution to the services delivered to children with disabilities.

Speaking to PhysioUpdate, Janet said: ‘POP [Physiotherapy Outreach Programme] Lesotho is a non-profit company and hopefully the MBE will raise the profile of what it has achieved and donor support will continue to sustain the work into the future.’

POP Lesotho was created in March 2020 and Janet – who had been volunteering with children in the Southern African state since 2016 – retired from her post with NHS in Wales at the end of 2021 and returned to Lesotho as a full-time volunteer.

Why training carers is key

She noted: ‘POP Lesotho has been life changing for hundreds of children in Lesotho giving them access to rehabilitative services, assistive technology, education, physiotherapy and basic health care. 

‘Many of the children we work with cannot sit up without support and spend their life lying on the floor, or in bed, due to severe disabilities. A simple cardboard chair, or wheelchair, can improve their health and function, giving them dignity and the opportunity to participate in home life and access education.’

Janet added: ‘Training care givers through the outreach programme gives children access to the daily physiotherapy they desperately need.’

Recent developments

With a grant from the British High Commission, in 2023 POP Lesotho built a workshop at a high school, where it repairs wheelchairs and makes APT [Appropriate Paper-based Technology] furniture from recycled cardboard.

It currently supports children with disabilities at two mainstream schools and works in the community with families in Maseru, Leribe and Butha-Buthe supporting children with physiotherapy, health care and assistive equipment.

Lack of AHPs

The POP Lesotho website explains that Lesotho is a low-income country, with poor infrastructure, widespread food poverty, high levels of disability – both congenital and acquired – and a deprived health service with few physiotherapists or allied health care professionals.

‘Without paediatric physiotherapy specialists in Lesotho there is little detailed knowledge about how to assess and treat children with disabilities and many children living in rural poverty struggle to access even the basics of health care,’ it adds   

Janet added: ‘Please visit the website of POP Lesotho for further information.’

To find out more about Janet and her project, read PhysioUpdate’s On the Move article that was published last month.

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