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Disability considerations for COVID-19 vaccination: WHO and UNICEF policy brief, 19 April 2021

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
Eds
April 2021

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Persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, both directly because of infection, and indirectly because of restrictions to reduce the spread of the virus. Persons with disabilities are a diverse group, and the risks, barriers and impacts faced by them will vary in different contexts according to, among other factors, their age, gender identity, type of disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and migration status.

This document presents considerations and actions for the following stakeholders to ensure equity in access to vaccination against COVID‑19 for persons with disabilities:

− Persons with disabilities and their support networks

− Governments

− Health service providers delivering vaccinations

− Organizations of persons with disabilities

− Disability service providers

− Residential institutions and long-term care facilities

− Community

Addressing the rising prevalence of hearing loss

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)
February 2018

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Hearing loss is the fourth highest cause of disability globally, with an estimated annual cost of over 750 billion dollars. These facts are well known and have contributed to growing global consciousness on the need for accessible hearing care in all regions of the world. Looking forward however, the demand for hearing care is likely to grow significantly in coming decades. This report highlights the potential escalation of hearing loss to the middle of the century, and focusses on the factors responsible for hearing loss and the means to address them. 

WHO estimates in 2008 found that 360 million people worldwide live with disabling hearing loss, including 32 million children and 180 million older adults. The most recent estimations place this figure at over 466 million people with disabling hearing loss in 2018. The main areas of the world affected by disabling hearing loss are the South Asian, Asia Pacific and Sub-Saharan African regions, with a prevalence rate almost four times that of the high income regions.

 

Measures to address these concerns deal with: prevention of infections in mothers and babies; chronic ear infections; noise exposure; and ototoxic hearing loss.

 

Public health aspects are highlighted. 

Priority assistive products list

WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)
May 2016

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The Priority Assistive Products List (APL) aspires to follow in the footsteps of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, which creates awareness among the public, mobilises resources and stimulates competition. The Priority Assistive Products List is similarly intended to be a catalyst in promoting access to assistive technology. It is not a restrictive list but aims to provide each Member State with a model from which to develop a National priority assistive products list. 

The List includes hearing aids, wheelchairs, communication aids, spectacles, artificial limbs, pill organizers, memory aids and other essential items for many older people and people with disabilities to be able to live a healthy, productive and dignified life.

The APL is part of the Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE)

Disability action plan

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
April 2014

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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

Wheelchair service training package : intermediate level (WSTP-I)

KHASNABIS, Chapal
MINES, Kylie
Eds
2013

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This wheelchair service training package is the second part of the WHO wheelchair service training package series and addresses the needs of people who have severe difficulties in walking and moving around and also having poor postural control. Special attention was given on the provision of appropriate wheelchairs for children who have poor postural control and are unable to sit upright independently. It is designed to support the training of personnel or volunteers to provide an appropriate manual wheelchair and cushion for children and adults who need additional postural support to sit upright
Note: A Trainers manual, Reference manual for participants, Participant’s workbook and Posters are available from the link above
Note: A DVD is available upon request which contains all the necessary forms and checklists; manuals and guides including the trainer’s manual; and sets of posters and presentations

Wheelchair service training package : basic level (WSTP-B)

KHASNABIS, Chapal
MINES, Kylie
2012

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The main purpose of the training package is to develop the minimum skills and knowledge required by personnel involved in wheelchair service delivery. An important aim of the training package is to get it integrated into the regular paramedical/rehabilitation training programs such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, prosthetics and orthotics, rehabilitation nursing
The package contains necessary forms and checklists, manuals and guides including trainer’s manual and set of posters and presentations. First click "Strat.pdf" which will come with four tabs - click tab "Manuals and guides" - open the Trainer’s manual to prepare yourself to deliver the training. Then click the "Timetable and sessions" tab to open the timetable. Click the hyperlinks of each session, which lead you to the exact slides and video location. The best way to deliver the training is to proceed through the lessons in sequential order respecting the timing allotted for each session as much as possible
Note: The whole training package is available on the Website for the training institutes and wheelchair service providers. It is recommended to download the complete package (requires 3 GB space)

World report on disability

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
WORLD BANK
2011

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This report "reviews evidence about the situation of people with disabilities around the world. Following chapters on understanding disability and measuring disability, the report contains topic-specific chapters on health; rehabilitation; assistance and support; enabling environments; education; and employment. Within each chapter, there is a discussion of the barriers confronted, and case studies showing how countries have succeeded in addressing these by promoting good practice. In its final chapter, the report offers nine concrete recommendations for policy and practice which if put in place could lead to real improvements in the lives of people with disability"

Joint position paper on the provision of mobility devices in less resourced settings : a step towards implementation of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD) related to personal mobility

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID)
2011

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"This joint position paper was developed in response to a meeting about personal mobility and mobility devices, held on 28-29 October 2009 at World Health Organization headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland. This paper aims to guide and support countries, especially those with limited resources, in the implementation of relevant articles of the CRPD associated with the provision of mobility devices"

Community-based rehabilitation : CBR guidelines|Health component

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
et al
2010

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This component of the CBR Guidelines focuses on health and how to make it inclusive. It describes "the role of CBR is to work closely with the health sector to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities and their family members are addressed in the areas of health promotion, prevention, medical care, rehabilitation and assistive devices. CBR also needs to work with individuals and their families to facilitate their access to health services and to work with other sectors to ensure that all aspects of health are addressed"
It outlines key concepts and then presents the core concepts, examples and areas of suggested activities in each of the following five elements: Health promotion; Prevention; Medical care; Rehabilitation; and Assistive devices. This guideline is useful for anyone interested in health component of CBR

Promoting sexual and reproductive health for persons with disabilities : WHO/UNFPA guidance note

GROCE, Nora
et al
2009

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This resource addresses issues of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programming for persons with disabilities. SRH, in particular, deserves attention because these needs have been so widely and so deeply neglected. At the same time, however, the approaches discussed here apply broadly to all aspects of health programming for persons with disabilities. This note outlines a general approach to programming and does not address specific protocols for the SRH care and treatment of persons with disabilities It is intended for SRH experts and advocates within UNFPA and WHO as well as those in other development organisations and partners

Towards universal access : scaling up priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector : progress report 2008

WORLD HEALTH ORGNAIZATION (WHO)
JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND (UNICEF)
2008

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This report provides in-depth information on: treatment and care for people living with HIV; HIV testing and counselling; health sector interventions for HIV prevention; scaling up HIV services for women and children; strengthening health systems and health information; and towards universal access as the way forward

Age-friendly primary health care centres toolkit

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2008

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This toolkit aims to improve the primary health care response for older persons. The information presented assists health care workers in the diagnosis and management of chronic diseases and the four main issues of memory loss, urinary incontinence, depression and falls/immobility that often impact people as they age. The toolkit contains a number of instruments that can be used by primary health care workers to assess and address older persons' health, such as evaluation forms, slides, figures, graphs, diagrams, scale tables, country guidelines, exam sheets, screening tools, cards, and checklists
Note: The link provided also contains Annex 1: Trainers guide for normal ageing and communication, a Normal Ageing power point presentation and Communication with older people power point presentation

Medicine prices surveys and proposed interventions to improve sustainable access to affordable medicines in 6 sub-Saharan African countries|Etudes des prix des medicaments et interventions proposeees pur ameliorer durablement l'acces aux medicaments dan

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2006

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This document brings together the outcomes of six surveys into medicine prices - for Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania, Chad and Uganda - and one for the East African Community (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) . The reports for Mali and Chad are written in French and the others in English

Ensuring equitable access to antiretroviral treatment for women : WHO/UNAIDS policy statement

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2005

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This policy brief identifies actions needed to address the gender dimensions of equity in access to ART. It identifies four key areas: development of a supportive policy environment; strengthening health systems to make them more responsive to the specific needs of women and men; promotion of programmes that overcome obstacles to equitable access; development of benchmarks and indicators to measure progress. This brief addresses each area in turn

Improving access and use of psychotropic medicines : mental health policy and service guidance package

FUNK, Michelle
et al
2005

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This module defines the respective roles of the public, private (for-profit) and NGO (not-for-profit) sectors in the financing and provision of psychotropic medicines. It identifies organizational arrangements in these sectors to meet the objectives of access. The guidance sets an agenda for capacity building and organizational development and provides guidance for prioritizing expenditure and making decisions on resource allocation
Note: This module is part of a guidance package that consists of a series of interrelated user-friendly modules that are designed to address the wide variety of needs and priorities in mental health policy development and service planning. Its recommended for use by policy makers, service planners representatives or associations of families and carers of people with mental disorders

World report on knowledge for better health : strengthening health systems

WORLD HEATLH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
2004

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The objective of this report is to describe strategies to reduce global disparities in health through improvements in health research systems at national and international levels and systematic application of evidence-based knowledge. It takes stock of the current state of health research around the world and reaches the following conclusions: increased investments are needed for a new, innovative approach to research on health systems; health research must be managed more effectively if it is to contribute to strengthening health systems and building public confidence in science; stronger emphasis should be placed on translating knowledge into action to improve health by bridging the gap between what is known and what is actually being done. The report provides a compass to reorient health research so that it may respond more effectively to public health challenges on a national and global level. This reorientation requires a strengthening of the health research sector, an environment that is more conducive to research-informed policy and practice, and more focus on key priorities for research to improve health systems. While building on past achievements, the report's recommendations highlight aspects of the health research sector that, if managed more closely, could reap even more benefits for public health in future

Using knowledge management to make health systems work

BAILEY, Christopher
December 2003

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The discipline of knowledge management aims to bridge the gap between information availability and its communication in areas where the it is needed most. This editorial looks at two programmes that demonstrate how knowledge management can work

Provision of antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings : a review of experience up to August 2003

ATTAWELL, Kathy
MUNDY, Jackie
November 2003

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This background paper aims to increase understanding of the requirements for introducing and scaling up provision of antitetroviral therapy (ART) as part of comprehensive HIV/AIDS programmes in resource-poor countries. The paper provides an overview of experience and lessons learned with regard to the feasibility of ART in resource-poor settings, the different approaches being taken to delivery of ART, and the issues to be considered in scaling up ART provision. The review is based on published and unpublished literature, interviews with key informants, web searches and country information

The relationship between prosthetics and orthotics services and community based rehabilitation (CBR)

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PROSTHETICS AND ORTHOTICS (ISPO)
November 2003

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"This document attempts to describe the relationship between prosthetics and orthotics services and community-based rehabilitation activities. It shows how the services offered by central/specialized, provincial and district institutions and the community can work together to provide a comprehensive prosthetics and orthotics service across the country. It should be noted that no definitive model of community based rehabilitation in prosthetics and orthotics is available; each country requires to develop its own system according to its needs and the resources available"

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