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This brief is for policy-makers in any ministry involved in designing assistive technology policies and programmes (such as ministries of health, finance and social welfare), especially those involved in designing universal health coverage programmes. It is also relevant for all stakeholders working in these areas. The brief highlights key challenges in ensuring equitable access to high-quality, affordable assistive technology and suggests actions to improve access within universal health coverage or any other national health/welfare programme.

This report is the first global report on epilepsy summarising the available evidence on the burden of epilepsy and the public health response required at global, regional and national levels.

This report is a call for sustained and coordinated action to ensure that every person with epilepsy has access to the care and treatment they need, and the opportunity to live free from stigma and discrimination in all parts of the world. It is time to highlight epilepsy as a public health imperative, to strongly encourage investment in reducing its burden, and to advocate for actions to address gaps in epilepsy knowledge, care and research.

This report was presented to Member States at the World Health Assembly in May 2016 and is to be read in conjunction with A69/38: Draft global strategy on human resources for health: Workforce 2030. Report by the Secretariat. The vision of this work and report is to "Accelerate progress towards universal health coverage and the UN Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring equitable access to health workers within strengthened health systems". Objectives are "To optimise performance, quality and impact of the health workforce through evidence-informed policies on human resources for health, contributing to healthy lives and well-being, effective universal health coverage, resilience and strengthened health systems at all levels",  "To align investment in human resources for health with the current and future needs of the population and of health systems, taking account of labour market dynamics and education policies; to address shortages and improve distribution of health workers, so as to enable maximum improvements in health outcomes, social welfare, employment creation and economic growth", "To build the capacity of institutions at sub-national, national, regional and global levels for effective public policy stewardship, leadership and governance of actions on human resources for health" and "to strengthen data on human resources for health, for monitoring and ensuring accountability for the implementation of national and regional strategies, and the global strategy".  Global milestones by 2020 and 2030, policy options of Member States, responsibilities of the WHO Secretariat and recommendations to other stakeholders and international partners are discussed for each objective.

The Action Plan is based on the recommendations of the WHO and World Bank World report on disability and in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was developed in consultation with Member States, United Nations organizations and national and international partners including organizations of people with disabilities.

The Action Plan has three objectives : to remove barriers and improve access to health services and programmes; to strengthen and extend rehabilitation, habilitation, assistive technology, assistance and support services, and community-based rehabilitation; to strengthen collection of relevant and internationally comparable data on disability and support research on disability and related services

These guidelines provide an overview of key CBR concepts, indentify goals and outcomes that CBR programmes should be working towards, and provide suggested activities to achieve these goals. The guidelines are presented in seven separate booklets: Introductory booklet, Health component, Education component, Livelihood component, Social component, Empowerment component and Supplementary booklet. This resource is useful for people interested in inclusive community-based development for people with disabilities
Note: Links are provided to the CBR Matrix and MP3 audio files

This component of the CBR Guidelines focuses on education and how to make it inclusive. It describes "the role of CBR is to work with the education sector to help make education inclusive at all levels, and to facilitate access to education and lifelong learning for people with disabilities." It outlines key concepts and then presents the core concepts, examples and areas of suggested activities in each of the following five elements: Early childhood care and education; Primary education; Secondary and higher education; Non-formal education; and Lifelong learning. This guideline is useful for anyone interested in the education component of CBR

"These community-based rehabilitation (CBR) guidelines are applicable to all disability groups. However, the need was identified for a supplementary booklet to highlight a number of issues which CBR programmes have historically overlooked, i.e. mental health problems, HIV/AIDS, leprosy and humanitarian crises...CBR is a strategy for community-based inclusive development which takes into account the principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, e.g. non-discrimination and the need to include all people with disabilities in development initiatives. Therefore, it is important that CBR programmes take steps to address issues which they have traditionally excluded, such as mental health problems, HIV/AIDS, leprosy and humanitarian crises. While these four issues have been chosen for inclusion in this booklet, CBR programmes are encouraged to think broadly about other issues (e.g. CBR and children, CBR and ageing) that are particularly relevant in their communities and which may be included in future editions of the guidelines"