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Disability and global health: Special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

KUPER, Hannah
POLAK, Sarah
Eds
2019

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Papers included in this special issue are:

 

Older people’s perceptions of health and wellbeing in rapidly ageing low- and middle-income countries

ALBONE, Rachel
2019

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This report presents the findings of an analysis of data collected by HelpAge International and its network members using HelpAge’s Health Outcomes Tool. The tool is designed to collect data to better understand health and care in older age, and to measure the impact of HelpAge’s health and care programmes. It was developed in response to the challenges posed by the lack of data on older people’s health and care, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and the resulting lack of understanding about how best to provide age, gender and disability sensitive services for older women and men. The tool was used between 2014 and 2017 in nine low- and middle-income countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America,1 and gathered data from over 3,000 older people. The findings are presented here in the context of the current debate and evidence on older people’s right to health.

This report explores three different areas in relation to ageing and health: older people’s access to health services; availability of care and support; and the impact both health, and care and support services have on older people’s health status, functional ability and wellbeing.

 

 

 

Including children with disabilities in preschool education. Experiences of Plan International Mozambique

PLAN INTERNATIONAL
August 2018

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Between 2015 and 2017, Plan International Mozambique worked together with communities supporting 106 preschools in rural Mozambique. In late 2016, an approach was piloted in 18 community-based preschools to support them to be disability-inclusive. The overall goal was to increase the number of children with disabilities enrolled in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) centres delivering quality early learning opportunities. The pilot took place over a 12 month period. Summarised findings about the current status of inclusion in preschool programmes run by Plan International Mozambique, case studies and lessons learned about the inclusion of children with disabilities in these programmes are provided.  

 

They describe five aspects that need to be considered to remove barriers and ensure that children with disabilities can access and benefit from early childhood education:

1. Work directly with the parents of children with disabilities

2. Address individual physical and medical needs of children with disabilities

3. Build the skills and confidence of caretakers

4. Equip and build a strong implementing team

5. Build evidence on what is happening and what (doesn’t) work

Global AgeWatch Insights. The right to health for older people, the right to be counted

ALBONE, Rachel
et al
2018

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This report considers the progress being made to achieve older people's right to health amid the global drive towards universal health coverage. It explores how older people are currently accessing health services and what changes need to be made to improve on this. It considers the role of data in driving and informing changes to health systems and the services they deliver. Data must be collected with and about older people to ensure adequate evidence for service design and delivery that is targeted and appropriate. This report explores the adequacy of current data systems and collection mechanisms and how, alongside health systems, they must be adapted in an ageing world. 

 

This report is supported by 12 country profiles (for Argentina, Colombia, El Salvador, Kenya, Lebanon, Moldova, Myanmar, Pakistan, Serbia, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zimbabwe; see Appendix 1). These provide national information on trends in the physical and mental health status of older people, and population-level information on access to UHC. The profiles are supplemented by data mapping, showing the national data available on older people’s health in the 12 profile countries, and revealing the data gaps. The data mapping results are available at www.GlobalAgeWatch.org.

Gendered experiences of physical restraint on locked wards for women

FISH, Rebecca
HATTON, Chris
2017

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Physical restraint is used in inpatient services for people with intellectual disabilities as a way of holding a person to avoid injury. This article uses data from an ethnographic study in a locked unit in the north of England to explore women’s experiences of physical restraint using a feminist disability studies analysis. Data consists of field notes as well as interviews with 16 of the women who had experienced restraint, and 10 staff who worked with them. The women gave insights into the gendered phenomenon of restraint in light of their past experiences of violence. The authors argue that restraint is used with women to encourage passivity at times when more relational and therapeutic methods could be used. The article offers recommendations for alternative strategies that services can encourage.

Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2017, Vol. 4 No. 1 - Special issue: Disability in the Sustainable Development Goals: Critical Reflections

2017

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Articles include:

  • Editorial: Disability and the SDGs: is the battle over?
  • Entering the SDG era: What do Fijians prioritise as indicators of disability-inclusive education?
  • SDGs, Inclusive Health and the path to Universal Health Coverage
  • No One Left Behind: A review of social protection and disability at the World Bank
  • The capacity of community-based participatory research in relation to disability and the SDGs
  • Measuring Disability and Inclusion in relation to the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development

Discourses of service user involvement in meeting places in Norwegian community mental health care: a discourse analysis of staff accounts

YNNESDAL HAUGEN, Lill Susann
ENVY, Andreas
BORG, Marit
EKELAND, Tor-Johan
ANDERSSEN, Norman
2016

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In previous research, meeting places have been favourably addressed by service users, but they have also been contested as exclusionary. In this participatory explorative study, we sought to perform a contextual analysis of meeting places in Norway based on a discourse analysis of three focus group discussions with 15 staff members. We asked the following question: how do meeting-place employees discuss their concrete and abstract encounters with service users and their experiences? We focused on service user involvement, which was largely analysed as neoliberal consultation and responsibilisation. Service users were positioned as resisting responsibility trickling down and defending staffed meeting places. Social democratic discourse was identified in the gaps of neoliberal discourse, which is noteworthy given that Norway is a social democracy. This relates to global concerns about displacements of democracy. We suggest that meeting places appear to hold the potential for staff and service users to collaborate more democratically.

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

Community care, change and hope : local responses to HIV in Zambia

LUCAS, Sue
2004

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This case study documents a successful model for facilitating a strong community response to HIV and AIDS. The Salvation Army Change Programme in Ndola and Choma Districts in Zambia illustrates the facilitation process stimulating an appropriate local response to HIV and AIDS and essential component of human capacity development. The model builds on local strengths and resources, stimulating ordinary people to address the barriers that prevent them from using HIV and AIDS information and services to prevent new infections, compassionately care for those who are infected and mitigate the effects of the epidemic on families and the community. Only by addressing personal risk, stigma and the potential for personal and societal change will the demand for and use of voluntary counselling and testing, prevention of mother to child transmission and antiretroviral therapy services increase

Family and community practices that promote child survival, growth and development : a review of the evidence

HILL, Zelee
KIRKWOOD, Betty
EDMOND, Karen
2004

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This technical review paper presents the evidence for twelve key practices, identified by UNICEF and WHO to be of key importance in providing good home-care for the child to prevent or treat the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness conditions, in order to ensure survival, reduce morbidity, and promote healthy growth and development. The twelve key practices are: immunisation, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, micronutrients, hygiene, treated bed nets, food and fluids, home treatment, care-seeking, adherence, stimulation, and antenatal care. The paper has 3 objectives: 1. To summarise the available evidence 2. to identify gaps in knowledge 3. To make recommendations concerning next steps and priority-setting for both programme action and research

Evaluating programs for HIV/AIDS prevention and care in developing countries : a handbook for program managers and decision makers

REHLE, Thomas
et al
2002

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This handbook contains a comprehensive discussion of evaluation approaches and methodologies for HIV prevention and care programmes. Its premise is that evaluation is an integral part of any programme from initial planning onward. Section I discusses concepts and approaches to evaluation and suggests an evaluation strategy design. Section II describes operational approaches for evaluating programmes concerned with promotion of behavioural change, infection control, condom use, voluntary counselling and testing, and people living with HIV or AIDS (PLWHA). Section III focuses on methodologies for measuring behavioural trends while section IV addresses evaluation issues of programme impact assessment and cost-effectiveness analysis. This publication is designed for use by programme managers and decision makers

Barriers and bridges to evidence based clinical practice

HAYNES, Brian
HAINES, Andrew
July 1998

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[Summary points:] The aim of evidence based practice is to integrate current best evidence from research with clinical policy and practice. Practitioners have difficulty finding, assessing, interpreting, and applying current best evidence. New evidence based services (such as electronic databases, systematic reviews, and journals that summarise evidence) make accessing current best evidence feasible and easy in clinical settings. Progress is slow in creating evidence based clinical policy and in ensuring that evidence and policy are applied at the right time

TRIP database

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This is a clinical search engine designed to allow clinicians to quickly find answers to their clinical questions using the best available evidence through simultaneous searching of multiple sites. The information provided is free but in order to access it, users have to complete an online registration form. The site was evaluated an external team from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (http://www.cebm.net) in 2006

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