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Background: Lack of access to mobility for people with disabilities, particularly in less- resourced settings, continues to be widespread. Despite challenges to wheelchair delivery, the benefits to health, employment, social integration and life satisfaction are apparent.

Objectives: Previous studies have explored the impact of receiving a wheelchair on the lives of the users through cross-sectional or short-term longitudinal analysis. The current study was undertaken to evaluate whether previously reported changes were sustained after 30 months of use, and whether results varied between two differing models of a wheelchair.

Method: One hundred and ninety-one subjects from Peru, Uganda and Vietnam received one of two models of wheelchair provided by the Free Wheelchair Mission. Using interviews to record survey results, data were collected at the time the wheelchair was received and following 12 and 30 months of use. Variables of overall health, employment, income and travel were explored through non-parametric analysis.

Results: There was a significant improvement in overall health and distance travelled after 12 months, but these changes were no longer significant by 30 months (Friedman test for overall change, p = 0.000). Employment status showed a small but significant increase at 12 and 30 months (Cochran’s Q, p = 0.000). Reported income increased slowly, becoming significantly different at 30 months (Friedman test, p = 0.033). There was no association between the model of wheelchair received and the incidence of pressure ulcers, pain or maintenance required. There was higher satisfaction with the GEN_2 wheelchair at 12 months (p = 0.004), but this difference was not apparent by 30 months. Overall wheelchair satisfaction and maintenance levels were favourable.

Conclusion: While overall health status, and distance travelled into the community fluctuated over time, receipt of one of two models of a wheelchair in less-resourced settings of the world appears to have a positive sustained impact on employment and income. Further investigations should be carried out to confirm these results and explore the factors responsible for fluctuating variables. This study affirms the importance of long-term follow-up of outcomes associated with wheelchair distribution in less-resourced environments.

The aim of this study was to assess the access of people with disabilities to education, employment and health as well as their needs for and inclusion in social protection in comparison to people without disabilities in Morropon, a semiurban district located in Piura, northern Peru. The study comprised two phases: a disability survey in the general population (phase 1) and the assessment of access to education, employment and health, as well as needs for social protection (phase 2). Disability was screened using the Washington Group short questionnaire

This paper presents qualitative research on the use of Facebook by visually impaired people and organizations representing them in Jordan, Peru, and India. We found that individuals and organizations have very different motivations and pathways for using social media. Social media serve as a means to help individuals with vision impairments to expand their social circles, network with casual acquaintances, and find various kinds of social and technical resources independently. However on issues of representation we found that social media have the potential to play a double-edged sword, reinforcing in some cases the same stereotypes that individual users of assistive technology (AT) sought to overcome by using technology in their professional lives. We find that individuals often characterize social media and assistive technology in the same vein — suggesting that for many parts of the global South, the dramatic change in the means and ability to leverage social and professional possibilities has not come from any one technology alone, but from a broader evolution of the technological environment available to people with vision impairments. Access to social media and technology disrupt an environment in which social and economic spaces for people with disabilities are still a zone of contestation between a dominant discourse of vision impairment enforced by generations of negative representations of disability, and a new world of technology users challenging representations and assumptions as engaged, connected professionals.

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 3

This article assesses "the contribution of physical, mental, and cognitive chronic diseases to disability, and the extent to which sociodemographic and health characteristics account for geographical variation in disability." Using cross sectional surveys of people aged over 65 in seven low and middle income countries, the findings highlight specific associations of chronic diseases to disability and overall that dementia, not blindness, is overwhelmingly the most important independent contributor to disability for elderly people in low and middle income countries. This resource is useful to people interested in the contribution of chronic diseases to disability in elderly people
The Lancet, Vol 374, Issue 97041
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This research paper explores the potential for libraries to empower communities and fight poverty in Africa, through promoting literacy and providing access to relevant information. The author outlines the challenges that libraries and information centres in Africa face; and the potential that linkages with local and international partners could bring. Case studies illustrate how library networks in three countries address the challenges and serve their communities. Recommendations for library networks highlight the need for skilled personnel, partnerships, a remit to create and share local content, appropriate use of technology, and better and more responsive monitoring and evaluation. Recommendations for governments and donor agencies include creating national information policies, filling a 'coordinating' role in the information environment, investing in literacy, and expanding public library networks

This publication is a collection of stories based on interviews with women in developing countries who participated in ACCP programmes. These women's stories illustrate the unnecessary suffering cervical cancer can cause women and their families and how prevention programs can save women's lives. ACCP projects have focused on regions in which cervical cancer incidence and mortality are highest: sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and South Asia, and have also focused on reaching women in their 30s and 40s

A wide range of international case studies of grass-roots projects involved in communication for social change. Covers radio, theatre, video and the Internet and the participatory approaches they are employed in. Each case study gives a succinct overview which includes history, background, description of the media, outcomes and constraints