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This book presents new research on disability, health, and wellbeing in four countries (Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda) . The primary focus is empirical. It also makes a conceptual contribution as it presents a new model of disability based on the human development and capability approach. It addresses four questions: 

• How should disability be defined to analyse and inform policies related to wellbeing?
• What is the prevalence of functional difficulties?
• What inequalities are associated with functional difficulties?
• What are the economic consequences of functional difficulties? 

Detailed data analysis using large-scale household survey datasets is combined with an interactional model of disability based on Amartya Sen’s capability approach.

DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-53638-9

First of book series: the Palgrave Studies in Disability and International Development

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2017 reviews progress made towards the 17 Goals in the second year of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report is based on the latest available data. It highlights both gains and challenges as the international community moves towards full realization of the ambitions and principles espoused in the 2030 Agenda. While considerable progress has been made over the past decade across all areas of development, the pace of progress observed in previous years is insufficient to fully meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets by 2030. Progress has not always been equitable. Advancements have been uneven across regions, between the sexes, and among people of different ages, wealth and locales, including urban and rural dwellers. 

The improvement of data on difficulties faced by children with disabilities, with the introduction of a new module on child functioning for use in censuses and surveys, is noted. This tool was introduced in 2016 by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its partners. Social protection coverage and people with disabilities is also mentionned.

"In recognizing the need for a set of questions that would produce internationally comparable data on children, the Washington Group formed a subgroup in 2009 that is chaired by the National Statistical Office of Italy (ISTAT). UNICEF joined the subgroup in 2011.

The first main activity of the subgroup was the development of a short set of questions to reflect current thinking on child functioning for inclusion in censuses and surveys. The new module uses the ICF-CY as the conceptual framework and relies on a functional approach to measuring disability.

The Washington Group/UNICEF Module on Child Functioning, finalized in 2016, covers children between 2 and 17 years of age and assesses functional difficulties in different domains including hearing, vision, communication/comprehension, learning, mobility and emotions. To better reflect the degree of functional difficulty, each area is assessed against a rating scale. The purpose is to identify the subpopulation of children who are at greater risk than other children of the same age or who are experiencing limited participation in an unaccommodating environment. The set of questions is intended for use in national household surveys and censuses"

The module is being translated into multiple languages. Supporting documentation, including a concept note, tabulation plan, templates for reporting, guidelines for interviewers and training materials are also available.

This poster summarises the recommendations of IDDC’s #CostingEquity research

This fact sheet provides key facts and an overview about autism spectrum disorders. Associated epidemiology, causes, assessment and management, social and economic impacts are briefly covered. The human rights of people with ASD are discussed and the WHO Resolution on autism spectrum disorders (WHA67.8) is introduced.

Uganda is among the first to use the Washington Group Short Set of Questions on Disability to identify persons with disabilities in its Demographic and Health Survey. In this paper, we review the HIV Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviour component of the 2011 Ugandan Demographic and Health Survey, analysing a series of questions comparing those with and without disabilities in relation to HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and practices. We found comparable levels of knowledge on HIV/AIDS for those with and those without disabilities in relation to HIV transmission during delivery (93.89%, 93.26%) and through breastfeeding (89.91%, 90.63%), which may reflect increased attention to reaching the community of persons with disabilities. However, several gaps in the knowledge base of persons with disabilities stood out, including misconceptions of risk of HIV infection through mosquito bites and caring for a relative with HIV in own household (34.39%, 29.86%; p<0.001; 91.53%, 89.00%; p = 0.001, respectively). The issue is not just access to appropriate information but also equitable access to HIV/AIDS services and support. Here we found that persons with multiple disabilities were less likely than individuals without disabilities to return to receive results from their most recent HIV test (0.60[0.41–0.87], p<0.05). HIV testing means little if people do not return for follow-up to know their HIV status and, if necessary, to be connected to available services and supports. Additional findings of note were that persons with disabilities reported having a first sexual encounter at a slightly younger age than peers without disabilities; and persons with disabilities also reported having a sexually transmitted disease (STD) within the last 12 months at significantly higher rates than peers without disabilities (1.38[1.18–1.63], p<0.01), despite reporting comparable knowledge of the need for safer sex practices. This analysis is among the first to use HIV/AIDS-related questions from Demographic Health Surveys to provide information about persons with disabilities in Uganda in comparison to those without disabilities. These findings present a more complex and nuanced understanding of persons with disabilities and HIV/AIDS. If persons with disabilities are becoming sexually active earlier, are more likely to have an STD within the preceding 12 month period and are less likely to receive HIV test results, it is important to understand why. Recommendations are also made for the inclusion of disability measures in Uganda’s AIDS Indicator Survey to provide cyclical and systematic data on disability and HIV/AIDS, including HIV prevalence amongst persons with disabilities.

PLoS ONE 12(4): e0174877
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0174877

Child health encompasses physical, mental and social well-being of children under the age of five. The leading causes of under-five deaths are pre-term birth complications, pneumonia, birth asphyxia, diarrhoea and malaria. Malnutrition contributes to nearly half of all under-five deaths. All these conditions contribute hugely to child impairments too. Common impairments and activity limitations related to child health including birth defects, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, burns, falls and injuries and road traffic injuries are outlined and different examples of rehabilitation across the care cycle are given. A case study of cerebral palsy in Haiti is cited. 

"The Washington Group on Disability Statistics has developed questions for household surveys that allow the collection and analysis of internationally comparable data on persons with disabilities. This fact sheet presents attendance rates and completion rates disaggregated by disability status based on data from Demographic and Health Surveys that applied the questions recommended by the Washington Group. The findings of the analysis by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) confirm that persons with disabilities are more likely to be out of school or to leave school before completing primary or secondary education. The fact sheet also summarises plans by the UIS for future data analysis and activities in standard setting to strengthen the evidence base for monitoring of SDG 4 and the design of education policy"

This action plan sets out the steps that the UK Department for International Development (DFID) will take to promote, provide and make use of their own development and humanitarian programme data which can be disaggregated on the basis of sex, age, disability status and geography (in the short term). It also has the objective to build the culture within DFID on disaggregated data, and to work with others to change the international development system on disaggregated data. A review is scheduled for 2020. Working with partners, influencing, capacity building and management information, research, analysis and reporting are outlined. Trailblazer country programmes with Bangladesh, Nepal, Zimbabwe and Rwanda are reported.