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The Sunderbans are a group of delta islands that straddle the border between India and Bangladesh. For people living on the Indian side, health services are scarce and the terrain makes access to what is available difficult. In 2018, the international non-governmental organisation Sightsavers and their partners conducted a population-based survey of visual impairment and coverage of cataract and spectacle services, supplemented with tools to measure equity in eye health by wealth, disability, and geographical location. Two-stage cluster sampling was undertaken to randomly select 3868 individuals aged 40+ years, of whom 3410 were examined

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec; 16(23): 4869

doi: 10.3390/ijerph16234869

The importance of addressing both safety and accessibility for inclusive urban mobility is discussed. 

Case studies provided are:

• Accessible public transport for employment, Senegal
• Training and ICT solutions, Kenya
• Tuk Tuk drivers certified on accessibility, Laos
• Designing Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) systems for accessibility, South Africa
• Improving accessibility to transport, Brazil
• Making public transport more inclusive with technology, Singapore
• Taking efforts to be more inclusive, France
• A model city for accessibility, Brazil
• Prioritising accessibility, Czech Republic
• Getting all residents and visitors to engage in all aspects of city life, Luxembourg
• Communications training, Russia
• Metro access audits, India

Recommendations are made to governments concerning strengthening poicy frameworks and removing barriers to accessible mobility

Mental health problems resulting from persecution and forced migration are very common among refugees and asylum seekers and evolve into a major public health challenge. Language barriers often prevent timely access to appropriate health care, leading to chronic trajectories and abortive social integration. Tools for multilingual screening and assessment could be of great benefit for this particularly vulnerable population as well as for policy makers. This study aimed at testing the reliability, feasibility and usability of the Multi-Adaptive Psychological Screening Software (MAPSS), a newly developed Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview Software (ACASI) for touchscreen devices, for screening purposes in a clinical setting. In a randomized cross-over design including both MAPSS and paper-pencil clinician-administered interviews, 30 treatment-seeking refugees completed clinical measures and a feasibility questionnaire to rate the user interface of MAPSS. Five professionals performed given tasks in MAPSS and completed usability questionnaires for the administration interface.

Conflict and Health 2017 11:18

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-017-0120-2

Purpose: Social inclusion of children with physical disabilities is essential for their mental health. The long-standing conflict and political instability in Palestine since 1948 has resulted in an unprecedented number of children with disabilities. This study aimed to assess social inclusion and mental health of children with physical disabilities in Palestine.

Method: A mixed methods research design was used. The 12-item General Health Questionnaire and a Social Inclusion Questionnaire were administered to 100 children with amputations, 12-18 years of age, in the Gaza Strip. Ten semi-structured interviews were also conducted with personnel working across civil society rehabilitation services in the area, particularly in services that focussed on the physical rehabilitation of children who had lost a limb.

Results: Quantitative findings indicated that 88% of children’s disabilities were caused by war-related incidents. While the sample of children showed on average relatively low levels of psychological distress, males reported feeling more socially included and having better mental health than did females. Furthermore, there was a strong positive correlation between mental health and social inclusion, and a moderate positive correlation between psychological distress and social inclusion. The qualitative data identified different factors that hinder social inclusion, mainly: political instability; under-resourced disability organisations; lack of coordinated efforts; and negative societal attitudes towards disability.

Conclusion: A new questionnaire for social inclusion was developed, which can now be used as a tool to assess social inclusion in similar contexts; as well as a culturally-adapted form of the General Health Questionnaire-12 to assess mental health. There is a clear need for service-providers to move beyond a medical model of care to one that embraces community-based rehabilitation and the realisation of rights, in order to promote the social inclusion and mental health of children with disabilities in Palestinian society.

This guide aims to assist professionals in conducting an accessibility audit, and is aimed at Handicap International professionals who have responsibility for developing, implementing or analysing accessibility activities. Within the framework of inclusive local development, an accessibility audit is a complex, substantial and technical process to implement involving a large number of different stakeholders, increase time preparation and technical specialised skills for making recommendations to remove barriers. An accessibility audit is a participatory democracy exercise which can be used as the basis to form relationships between stakeholders in a municipality accessibility commission or even a municipality commission for inclusive development, who will have responsibility for suggesting, studying, organising and implementing actions to improve accessibility

"The Cost of Disability Report identifies the additional resources (support, equipment, transport and time) and the costs associated with these resources that disabled people aged 18-64 years require to live in the community and to achieve an ordinary standard of living"
The report and budgets are available to download in pdf, word and excel formats

A report on the inauguration of the tele-neurosurgery facility at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore. The facility will allow access to consultants working in the neurosurgical intensive care unit at the hospital and the unit will additionally provide continuous medical education in the form of talks, workshops and live surgical demonstrations

This report describes the 'Saúde e Alegria' (Health and Happiness) project (http://www.saudeealegria.org.br/ ) developed by RITS (Red de Información para el Tercer Sector), a member of APC in Brazil, with the support of the Avina Foundation and the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas. It shows the impact of the project on the community, including a case where the internet provided access to snake bite information after a local girl was bitten