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"The present report has been prepared in response to Economic and Social Council resolution 2015/4, in which the Council requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission for Social Development, at its fifty-fifth session, a report on the implementation of that resolution, including the Chair’s summary of the discussions and the proposals made during the multi-stakeholder panel discussion on disability at the Commission’s fifty-fourth session. The report provides an overview of the inclusion of disability in existing international development frameworks, as well as of the status of persons with disabilities in social and economic development. It notes that, worldwide, persons with disabilities are still at a disadvantage in many aspects of their participation in development processes, mechanisms and institutions. The report presents the information concerning: (a) the review and follow-up mechanisms of relevant international frameworks on disability-inclusive development; (b) the role of the Commission for Social Development in mainstreaming disability in the development agenda; (c) summary of the multi-stakeholder panel discussion on disability held at the fifty-fourth session of the Commission for Social Development; and (d) conclusions and recommendations"

Purpose:   The International Classification of Functioning (ICF) has found widespread acceptance since it was launched in 2001. Yet, little is known about its use in Primary Care. This paper aims to contribute to the dialogue about the practical use of the ICF by exploring how this framework constitutes a supplementary source to inform disability-related decision making in integrated Primary Care.

Method: The implementation process of the ICF in a Latin American Primary Care and Community-Based Rehabilitation setting is described and the ICF diagram is applied to a life story as an example of its current use. Participant observation, in-depth study of reports of team meetings and the review of clinical files are the main data collection methods. Data analysis is enabled by the combination of single-case study with theory testing, which facilitates the generation of hypotheses in this exploratory study.

Results: A valuable time component of the ICF may support continuity in Primary Care and the universal application of the ICF framework can promote comprehensiveness by integrating individual rehabilitation and collective disability prevention. A way to mitigate the perceived dominance of biomedical disease and deficiency thinking is proposed in order to encourage the biopsychosocial focus of Primary Care. Finally, the implementation of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) in the health condition domain of the ICF highlights the importance of social responsibility towards disability.

Conclusion: This study suggests that a creative implementation of the ICF during life course to everyone who uses universally accessible healthcare may strengthen the integrative functions of Primary Care, and may be at the heart of the information system of this essential part of the healthcare system. Further research on the complementary use of ICF and ICD-10 is suggested in order to support community-based multisectoral intervention which may be coordinated by Primary Care.

About 6.25 billion people, 15 per cent of them persons with disabilities, are expected to be living in urban centres by 2050. Urbanisation has the potential to be an engineer for achieving sustainable and inclusive development for all. The current lack of environmental accessibility faced by people with disabilities, in particular in many cities in the world, presents a major challenge. As the international community prepares for the Third Global Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), which will take place in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016, it is an apt and a strategic opportunity to promote an accessible and inclusive Urban Agenda.

This report is a compendium of promising initiatives and good practices that have emerged in recent yeas successfully promoting accessibility and inclusion of persons with disabilities, their rights, aspiration and contributions in the contexts of urban development. It countains findings and recommendations which were adopted at a UN expert group meeting, that may be helpful in informing the ongoing Habitat III discourses, the development of the New Urban Agenda as well as in furthering accessible and inclusive urban development 

This handbook presents a new participatory approach to impact evaluation of Community Based Rehabilitation and inclusive development programmes focussing on the lives and wellbeing of people with disabilities

Note: tools and appendices are available

Purpose: This study aimed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a community- based rehabilitation (CBR) programme known as Inspire2Care (I2C), implemented in Nepal by Karuna Foundation Nepal. In the absence of any gold standard methodology to measure cost-effectiveness, the authors developed a new methodology to estimate the programme’s achievements and cost-effectiveness.

Methods: Financial records were reviewed to determine total expenditure during the period August 2011 - December 2013. Programme records which documented the physical, mental and social status of children and adults with a disability qualitatively before, during and after the intervention were used to determine a starting disability weight and improvement score, which was then converted into a change in disability weight. The disability weight and expected remaining lifespan of each person were used to estimate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted by the intervention. The cost per DALY averted was estimated by dividing the total programme expenditure by the sum of DALYs averted over that same period.

Results: I2C cost 204,823 Euros to implement over the period August 2011- December 2013. In total, an estimated 1,065 DALYs were averted from the treatment and rehabilitation components. The cost per DALY averted was 192.34 Euros.

Conclusions and Implications: The methodology devised for the study was able to successfully estimate the cost-effectiveness of the I2C programme. Using WHO benchmarks, this programme can be considered highly cost-effective. Other organisations can assess the cost-effectiveness of their programmes by using the assessment improvement score and subsequent conversion to DALYs averted. However, while mental, physical and social gains have been captured, other benefits from I2C cannot be captured in the cost per DALY averted statistic. Further research is needed to develop methods for incorporating these harder-to- measure gains in cost-effectiveness studies with a single outcome measure like the DALY.