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Access to assistive products in Kurigram and Narsingdi, Bangladesh. Policy brief 2.

HUMANITY & INCLUSION BANGLADESH
et al
August 2018

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This ‘policy brief’ outlines findings on Assistive technology and Products (AP) needs, unmet needs and access patterns arising the Rapid Assessment of Disability (RAD) study conducted in 2016 and 2017, in partnership between the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and Humanity & Inclusion (HI) Bangladesh, with technical oversight from the Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. The study was part of the HI project: Towards Global Health: Strengthening the Rehabilitation Sector through Civil Society funded by the European Union. Findings from the 4254 adults surveyed in the two districts are reported here.

 

The purpose of this component of the RAD study was to learn about the usage of AP, characteristics of AP users, barriers to use of AP, unmet and met needs of AP, and to highlight major policy implications for AP service provision, in two target areas of Kurigram and Narsingdi. The survey includes an adapted version of Washington Group (WG) ‘short set’ of Disability Questions. A modified version of the WHO’s draft Assistive Technology Assessment Tool (needs module) – or the ‘ATA-needs’, was also implemented. Findings from this study also helped modify and improve the draft ATA-needs tool

Participation Restriction due to Arm and Leg Motor Impairment after Stroke Rehabilitation in the Tamale Metropolitan Area, Ghana

TWUM, Frank
DOGBE, Joslin Alexander
EDUSEI, Anthony Kwaku
AMPRATWUM, Joseph
2018

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Purpose: The study was conducted to examine the relationship between arm and leg motor impairment in stroke survivors and participation restriction, post rehabilitation, within the Tamale metropolis.

 

Method: The participants were 102 stroke survivors from the Tamale metropolitan area, who had undergone at least 3 months of rehabilitation. Upper limb motor assessment was followed by lower limb motor assessment based on the Manual Muscle Test. Levels of participation restriction were measured using the London Handicap Scale. Correlation analysis of motor impairment and participation restriction were done using Spearman rank correlation analysis.

 

Results: The mean age of post-stroke participants was 62.08 years (95% CI= 59.77-64.39), with men comprising 67.65% and 32.35% women. The Spearman rank correlation co-efficient between arm motor impairment and participation was 0.8343, depicting a strong positive relationship between the aforementioned variables. The correlation between leg motor impairment and participation yielded 0.8013. Conversely, leg motor impairment was found to have a stronger relationship with participation restriction in comparison to arm motor impairment.

 

Conclusion and Implications: The strong relationship between limb motor impairment and participation restriction suggests that clinicians and disability experts involved in rehabilitation should take cognisance of the social implication of motor impairment in order to make informed decisions. Further to this, arm and leg assistive devices could be useful in reducing the levels of participation restriction among persons with stroke within the Tamale metropolis.

 

Limitations: A major limitation is that motor impairment was assessed solely on the ability to perform voluntary movement (muscle power). Sensory disturbances and motor coordination difficulties also have the potential to influence participation restriction, so the exclusion of stroke survivors who are unable to communicate implies that external validity of the research is limited.

Una Vida Sin Palabras?: Disability, Subalternity and the Sandinista Revolution

BURKE, Lucy
RUDMAN, Thomas
2016

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This paper offers an analysis of the documentary film, Una Vida Sin Palabras [A life without words] (2011). The film follows a short period in the lives of a campesino family living in a rural area of Nicaragua as a teacher of Nicaraguan sign language, working for a local NGO, endeavours to teach three deaf siblings how to sign. Bringing together the critical practices of Disability and Subaltern studies in the specific context of contemporary Nicaragua, the paper argues: (1) that the film ultimately re-inscribes and reinforces the subalternity of the disabled subjects it sets out to portray; and (2) that the hierarchy it produces between its object – the deaf family – and its implied educated, metropolitan audience replays some influential (but, we would argue, politically limited) critiques of the failure of the first Sandinista Government (1979-1990) and other broad based radical political movements to represent the national popular. In so doing, the paper also makes a case for the political and intellectual importance of bringing a Critical Disability Studies perspective to the field of Subaltern Studies, and argues that an engagement with the problems that are presented by this film at the level of both form and content raise some important questions for both fields of enquiry.

 

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2016, Vol. 3 No. 1

Bridging the gaps between research, policy and practice in low- and middle-income countries : a survey of health care providers

GUINDON, G Emmanuel
et al
May 2010

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This article discusses the results of a survey to examine the gaps that continue to exist between research based evidence and clinical practice. Health care providers in 10 low- and middle-income countries were surveyed about their use of research-based evidence and examined factors that may facilitate or impede such use. The conclusion is that locally conducted or published research plays an important role in changing the professional practice of health care providers surveyed in low- and middle-income countries and increased investments in local research, or at least in locally adapted publications of research-based evidence from other settings, are therefore needed. Although access to the Internet was viewed as a significant factor in whether research-based evidence led to concrete changes in practice, few respondents reported having easy access to the Internet. Therefore, efforts to improve Internet access in clinical settings need to be accelerate

Networking for learning : the human face of knowledge management?

KEIJZER, Niels
ORNEMARK, Charlotte
ENGEL, Paul
December 2006

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This brief contributes to the debate on networking for learning by exploring its potentials and limitations. It draws substantially on discussions and resource materials shared through the Pelican Initiative, as well as other literature and practical examples, and seeks to identify some entry points into this field for policy-makers and development practitioners

'The last thing the world needs is another website' : the role of evidence in integrating information and communication into development policy

PERKINS, Nicholas
Ed
October 2006

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This summary paper outlines the interim findings from the ICD (Information and Communication for Development) Knowledge Sharing and Learning programme. It summarises the communication processes that are needed to engage with policy makers in order to embed effective information and communication within their development policies and practice

The gender guide for health communication programs

ZAMAN, Faria
UNDERWOOD, Carol
2003

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A simple step-by step guide to designing health communication programmes that take gender into account at the strategic design, materials development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation stages. Includes a short glossary and a number of short case-examples of gender-sensitive 'good practice' programmes from around the world

Measuring the difference : guide to planning and evaluating health information outreach

BURROUGHS, Catherine M
WOOD, Fred B
September 2000

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This guide presents a programmatic and goal-orientated approach to outreach activities. The premise of this approach is that evaluation is an integral part of programme development: planning and evaluating an outreach initiative is one and the same process, and asking the right questions at the beginning is essential for getting useful results at the end. The guide is practical in purpose, with checklists, worksheets and examples, but also heavily theory-based, offering a range of methodological possibilities and strategies. The guide should be useful to community organisations, libraries, clinics or other groups seeking to affect the capacity of individuals or communities to use health information resources and to address barriers to access, through simple or complex outreach projects. It is not specifically written for developing-country contexts

Communications programming for HIV/AIDS : an annotated bibliography

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
1999

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This annotated bibliography pulls together published and unpublished research and examples from practice based on communication strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention and care. It highlights the literature in both theoretical and practical applications. Researchers and practitioners can use this bibliography to identify key books, articles, and reports that deal with specific communications-related aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
The first section contains references related to the different theoretical concepts in HIV/AIDS communication, and examples of their application in different settings. The theories considered are the diffusion of innovations, the health belief model, the theory of reasoned action, the AIDS risk-reduction and management model, the sense-making approach, and social learning and cognitive theories. The second section of this bibliography covers examples and reports of HIV/AIDS communication campaigns. In doing so, it provides references dealing with traditional mass media campaigns, multimedia campaigns, and the role of interpersonal and small-group communication in media campaigns; as well as more recent approaches to health and HIV/AIDS communication such as media advocacy and entertainment-education. The third section of this document contains references on community response to HIV/AIDS. Culture and context occupy the fourth section, which includes citations that might help users identify key references associated with some of the issues identified as highly relevant to future HIV/AIDS communication, such as language and different ways of knowing and communicating in varied contexts

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