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This document provides evidence-based, expert-informed recommendations and good practice statements to support health systems and stakeholders in strengthening and extending high-quality rehabilitation services so that they can better respond to the needs of populations. The recommendations are intended for government leaders and health policy-makers and are also relevant for sectors such as workforce and training. The recommendations and good practice statements may also be useful for people involved in rehabilitation research, service delivery, financing and assistive products, including professional organisations, academic institutions, civil society and nongovernmental and international organisations. The recommendations focus solely on rehabilitation in the context of health systems. They address the elements of service delivery and financing specifically. The recommendations were developed according to standard WHO procedures, detailed in the WHO handbook for guideline development

The WHO global disability action plan 2014-2021 is a significant step towards achieving health and well-being and human rights for people with disabilities. The action plan was endorsed by WHO Member States in 2014 and calls for them to remove barriers and improve access to health services and programmes; strengthen and extend rehabilitation, assistive devices and support services, and community-based rehabilitation; and enhance collection of relevant and internationally comparable data on disability, and research on disability and related services. Achieving the objectives of the action plan better enables people with disabilities to fulfil their aspirations in all aspects of life.

This 4th book in the series can be used as a basis for future action throughout the African continent. The content provides an overview of present day CBR knowledge, and also details how this information has been interpreted and implemented in the African context. The writers are predominantly of African origin and provide insightful views of the dynamic nature of CBR and its capacity to respond to contextually different challenges. Examples are provided from their own CBR experiences and case studies of their programmes, highlighting the problems they face and how they were overcome

The content of this book has been developed from conference presentations and discussions, and some chapters have been reinforced with additional information from discussions or relevant literature. The end of each chapter provides references to the academic literature used by the authors

4th CBR Africa Conference

Abuja, Nigeria

26th-29th October 2010

This paper is a methodological guide to personalised social support to enhance understanding, thinking about and practising this approach to social work. It is targeted at field workers and public services’ or association advisers responsible for receiving, informing, guiding and supporting people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
This guide is divided into three sections. First, a "principles and benchmarks" section explores the theoretical aspects of social work, development and personalised social support. This section is followed by a "Practical guide" targeted at social workers, facilitators and advisers responsible for providing support and provides an in-depth guide to implementing personalised social support, based on various intervention techniques and practical tools. This section also offers a section devoted to project managers or social mecha¬nism coordinators, featuring benchmarks for the development and follow-up of a social support service. The third section features a "Toolbox" consisting mainly of tools sourced from Handicap International programmes

This component of the CBR Guidelines focuses on health and how to make it inclusive. It describes "the role of CBR is to work closely with the health sector to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities and their family members are addressed in the areas of health promotion, prevention, medical care, rehabilitation and assistive devices. CBR also needs to work with individuals and their families to facilitate their access to health services and to work with other sectors to ensure that all aspects of health are addressed"
It outlines key concepts and then presents the core concepts, examples and areas of suggested activities in each of the following five elements: Health promotion; Prevention; Medical care; Rehabilitation; and Assistive devices. This guideline is useful for anyone interested in health component of CBR

This component of the CBR Guidelines focuses on inclusive livelihoods. It describes "the role of CBR is to facilitate access for people with disabilities and their families to acquiring skills, livelihood opportunities, enhanced participation in community life and self-fulfilment." The guideline outlines key concepts, and then presents the core concepts, examples and areas of suggested activities in each of the following five elements: Skills development; Self-employment; Wage employment; Financial services; Social protection. This guideline is useful for anyone interested in livelihood component of CBR

"These community-based rehabilitation (CBR) guidelines are applicable to all disability groups. However, the need was identified for a supplementary booklet to highlight a number of issues which CBR programmes have historically overlooked, i.e. mental health problems, HIV/AIDS, leprosy and humanitarian crises...CBR is a strategy for community-based inclusive development which takes into account the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, e.g. non-discrimination and the need to include all people with disabilities in development initiatives. Therefore, it is important that CBR programmes take steps to address issues which they have traditionally excluded, such as mental health problems, HIV/AIDS, leprosy and humanitarian crises. While these four issues have been chosen for inclusion in this booklet, CBR programmes are encouraged to think broadly about other issues (e.g. CBR and children, CBR and ageing) that are particularly relevant in their communities and which may be included in future editions of the guidelines"