With this manual, the World Health Organization (WHO) is responding to requests from colleagues around the world who seek guidance on psychological interventions for people exposed to adversity.
The manual describes a scalable psychological intervention called Problem Management Plus (PM+) for adults impaired by distress in communities who are exposed to adversity. Aspects of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) have been changed to make them feasible in communities that do not have many specialists. To ensure maximum use, the intervention is developed in such a way that it can help people with depression, anxiety and stress, whether or not exposure to adversity has caused these problems. It can be applied to improve aspects of mental health and psychosocial well-being no matter how severe people’s problems are.
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 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
This report presents an action plan to scale up services for mental, neurological and substance use disorders for countries, especially low and lower middle income countries. It describes the mhGAP programme, outlines framework for country action and emphasises the building of partnerships. This resource is useful for people interested in scaling up services for mental health in developing countries
This report examines the implications for children's development and mental health of malnutrition and reduced psychosocial stimulation. It looks at how to promote positive child development, prevention strategies, combined nutrition and stimulation programmes and the benefit of such programmes being community or home-based
"Violence against women by an intimate partner is a major contributor to the ill-health of women. This study analyses data from 10 countries and sheds new light on the prevalence of violence against women in countries where few data were previously available. It also uncovers the forms and patterns of this violence across different countries and cultures, documenting the consequences of violence for women’s health. This information has important implications for prevention, care and mitigation... The high rates documented by the Study of sexual abuse experienced by girls and women are of great concern, especially in light of the HIV epidemic. Greater public awareness of this problem is needed and a strong public health response that focuses on preventing such violence from occurring in the first place...This study will help national authorities to design policies and programmes that begin to deal with the problem"
This report argues that a comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy linking prevention, treatment, care and support for people living with the virus could save the lives of millions of people in poor and middle-income countries. At present, almost six million people in developing countries need treatment, but only about 400 000 of them received it in 2003. The World Health Report 2004 argues that a treatment gap of such dimensions is indefensible and that narrowing it is both an ethical obligation and a public health necessity. In September 2003 WHO, UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and their partners launched an effort to provide three million people in developing countries with antiretroviral therapy (ART) by end 2005 - the 3 by 5 initiative. This World Health Report shows how a partnership linking international organizations, national governments, the private sector and communities is working simultaneously to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment, reinforce HIV prevention and strengthen health systems in some of the countries where they are currently weakest
This report raises awareness of the global burden of mental and neurological disorders, and its cost in human, social and economic terms. It also aims to dismantle the barriers which prevent millions of sufferers of mental and neurological disorders from receiving the treatment they need and deserve. The report describes how mental health problems can be solved (eg. by drug therapy, psycho-social rehabilitation and psychotherapy, vocational rehabilitation, housing), and gives examples of the effectiveness of these treatments for a wide range of mental disorders
These guidelines can be used to design DOTS-Plus projects that are eligible to procure lower priced anti-TB drugs through the WHO Green Light Committee. See also Instructions for applying to the green light committee for access to second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs
Prepared and distributed by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Polio News is aimed at partners, field staff, ministries of health and interested parties. It includes up-to-date information on the progress accomplished in eradicating polio
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