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Estimating assistive product need in Cameroon and India: results of population‐based surveys and comparison of self‐report and clinical impairment assessment approaches

BOGGS, Dorothy
KUPER, Hannah
MACTAGGART, Islay
MURTHY, GVS
OYE, Joseph
POLACK, Sarah
November 2020

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To estimate population need and coverage for distance glasses, hearing aids and wheelchairs in India and Cameroon, and to explore the relationship between assistive product (AP) need measured through self‐report and clinical impairment assessment.

Population‐based surveys of approximately 4000 people each were conducted in Mahabubnagar district, India and Fundong district, Cameroon. Participants underwent standardised vision, hearing and musculoskeletal impairment assessment to assess need for distance glasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs. Participants with moderate or worse impairment and/or self‐reported difficulties in functioning were also asked about their self‐reported AP need.

 

https://doi.org/10.1111/tmi.13523

Rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) and disability and equity survey. Nampula, Mozambique

SIGHTSAVERS
July 2019

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This report describes the findings of a rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) conducted in Muchinga Province, Zambia in 2017.

The prevalence of blindness was just over 4% and the major cause was cataract, followed by glaucoma. Only 37% of people who require cataract surgery have received it, meaning there is an urgent need to scale up access to cataract surgical services in the province.

In addition to the standard RAAB questionnaire, an additional two sets of questions were administered to the participants to understand their disability and socioeconomic status: the Washington Group Short Set of Questions on Disability (WGSS) and the Equity Tool (ET)

Leaving no-one behind: Building inclusive social protection systems for persons with disabilities

KIDD, Stephen
et al
February 2019

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How to make social protection systems and schemes more inclusive of persons with disabilities is examined. Social protection can play a key role in empowering persons with disabilities by addressing the additional costs they face, yet the majority of persons with disabilities are currently excluded from schemes.

The report identifies a wide range of barriers persons with disabilities experience in accessing social protection to be overcome. It calls for better data on disability, disability-specific and old age pension schemes and expanded coverage; adapting communications about social protection schemes; and improving disability assessment mechanisms. The research underpinning the report comprised involved a review of the literature, an analysis of household survey datasets, and consultations with key stakeholders and persons with disabilities in seven low- and middle-income countries: Brazil, India, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia.

Topics covered include:

  • Types of social protection schemes for persons with disabilities
  • Levels of investment in social protection for persons with disabilities
  • Coverage of persons with disabilities by social protection
  • Impacts of social protection on persons with disabilities
  • Barriers to accessing social protection and measures to address them
  • Links between social protection schemes and other public services

Unmet needs and use of assistive products in two districts of Bangladesh: Findings from a household survey

PRYOR, Wesley
NGUYEN, Liem
ISLAM, Qumrun Naher
JALAL, Faruk, Ahmed
MANJULA, Marella
December 2018

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Access to assistive products (AP) is an under-researched public health issue. Using an adaptation of a draft World Health Organization tool—the ‘Assistive Technology Assessment—Needs (ATA-N)’ for measuring unmet needs and use of AP, we aimed to understand characteristics of AP users, self-reported needs and unmet needs for AP, and current access patterns in Bangladesh. The ATA-N was incorporated in a Rapid Assessment of Disability (RAD), a population-based survey to estimate prevalence and correlates of disability. In each of two unions of Kurigram and Narsingdi districts, 60 clusters of 50 people each aged two years and older were selected using a two-staged cluster random sampling process, of whom, 4250 (59% Female; 41% Male) were adults, including 333 using AP. We estimate 7.1% of the studied population used any AP. AP use is positively associated with age and self-reported functional difficulty. The proportion of people using AP is higher for mobility than for sensory and cognitive difficulties. Of all people with any functional difficulty, 71% self-reported an unmet need for AP. Most products were home or self-made, at low cost, but provided benefits. Needs and unmet needs for AP are high, especially for people with greater functional difficulties. Assessing unmet needs for AP revealed important barriers to scale that can inform policy and practice.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(12), 2901;
doi:10.3390/ijerph15122901

Access to assistive products in Kurigram and Narsingdi, Bangladesh. Policy brief 2.

HUMANITY & INCLUSION BANGLADESH
et al
August 2018

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This ‘policy brief’ outlines findings on Assistive technology and Products (AP) needs, unmet needs and access patterns arising the Rapid Assessment of Disability (RAD) study conducted in 2016 and 2017, in partnership between the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and Humanity & Inclusion (HI) Bangladesh, with technical oversight from the Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. The study was part of the HI project: Towards Global Health: Strengthening the Rehabilitation Sector through Civil Society funded by the European Union. Findings from the 4254 adults surveyed in the two districts are reported here.

 

The purpose of this component of the RAD study was to learn about the usage of AP, characteristics of AP users, barriers to use of AP, unmet and met needs of AP, and to highlight major policy implications for AP service provision, in two target areas of Kurigram and Narsingdi. The survey includes an adapted version of Washington Group (WG) ‘short set’ of Disability Questions. A modified version of the WHO’s draft Assistive Technology Assessment Tool (needs module) – or the ‘ATA-needs’, was also implemented. Findings from this study also helped modify and improve the draft ATA-needs tool

The Malawi key informant child disability project

TATARYN, Myroslava
et al
August 2014

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“The aim of this study was to use the KIM to estimate the prevalence of moderate/severe physical, sensory and intellectual impairments and epilepsy among children in two districts (Ntcheu and Thyolo) in Malawi. The Key Informant Method (KIM) is a novel method for generating these data. KIM focuses on training community volunteers to identify local children who may have disabilities, who are then screened by medical professionals and referred on for appropriate health and rehabilitation interventions. Consequently, the method offers an alternative to population-based surveys of disability in children, which can be costly and time consuming”

The Malawi key informant child disability project : summary report

TATARYN, Myroslava
et al
August 2014

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This report provides a summary of research project conducted by the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Malawi. The study used the Key Informant Method (KIM) to estimate the prevalence of moderate/severe physical, sensory and intellectual impairments and epilepsy among children in two districts (Ntcheu and Thyolo) in Malawi. This report presents summary of the study’s background information, aims and objectives, key findings, conclusions and recommendations

Two stage child disability study among children 2 to 9 years : Bhutan 2010 - 2011

THE NATIONAL STATISTICS BUREAU (NSB), Government of Bhutan
Ministry of Education (MoE)
Ministry of Health (MoH)
2012

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“This report highlights the salient findings of the two-stage child disability study among children aged 2-9 years conducted in 2011. The first stage was a screen to identify children with conditions making them more likely to be living with a disability. The second stage was a detailed assessment to accurately determine their disability status. This two-stage procedure is designed to reduce the costs of administering a detailed assessment to many children who are highly unlikely to have a disability”

CVD project evaluation : baseline diabetes study, Davao, Philippines 2010

PILLERON, Sophie
June 2011

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This study gathered baseline data for the CVD Project evaluation. "This study also concerned gathering information on the nature of diabetes and common practices in diabetes management and care, to improve project implementation strategy and data on promoting health care services in the community...This study was the first part of a quasi-experimental before-after here-there study conducted in 10 intervention barangays and 5 control barangays of Davao City. The study population consisted of people with diabetes aged 20 years and above who had visited the Barangay Health Centre and had proof of a doctor’s diagnosis for diabetes mellitus or proof of a relative-to-diabetes medicine prescription...Despite its limitations, this study provides a first insight on the people living with diabetes in Davao City. With 72% of diabetics having uncontrolled glycaemia, this study shows the relevance of the CVD project. As a baseline, this study provides comparison elements for the 2013 survey in order to test effectiveness of the CVD project with the percentage of diabetics with HbA1c<6.5% as effectiveness criterion"
DS/RD 01

Disability and poverty : a survey of World Bank poverty assessments and implications

BRAITHWAITE, Jeanine
MONT, Daniel
February 2008

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"This discussion paper reviews the World Bank poverty assessment literature on the relationship between disability and poverty. The paper found that using standard assumptions about the distribution of household consumption among household members and the typical way that poverty lines are set in World Bank poverty assessments was not as significant as common sense and anecdotal evidence would suggest"
Social Paper Discussion Paper No 0805

Disabled women and domestic violence : making the links|An interim report for the women’ s aid federation of England

HAGUE, Gill
THIARA, Ravi K.
MAGOWAN, Pauline
October 2007

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This interim report presents a research project which explores disabled women’s experiences of domestic violence and investigates existing service provision available to them. It is "based on two national surveys, one of domestic violence organisations and one of disabled people’s organisations. Specialist facilities and accessible services were in short supply in both sectors. One recurrent issue was lack of secure on-going funding, which held many organisations back from developing their services as fully and inclusively they might wish. The provision of appropriate training, and improved liaison between the two sectors, would help to provide a better service for disabled women experiencing abuse"

The state of the humanitarian system

TAYLOR, Glyn
et al
July 2004

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"This report presents a system-level mapping and analysis of the performance of international humanitarian assistance. The pilot report on the State of the Humanitarian System (SOHS) was published in 2010 and focused on the years 2007 and 2008. This report includes descriptive statistics from the following two years, 2009 and 2010, and reviews performance assessments from 2009 to the end of 2011, comparing findings from the two periods. This report covers recent developments with those actors as well, and includes the perceptions and perspectives of some humanitarian aid recipients, through field based surveys in four countries"

The essential handbook. Radio and HIV/AIDS : making a difference : a guide for radio practitioners, health workers and donors

ADAM, Gordon
HARFORD, Nicola
1999

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Part of the UNAIDS best practice collection, this publication outlines an inexpensive communications methodology for media and HIV/AIDS workers. It is illustrated with examples of successful HIV/AIDS radio programming from all over the world. Includes sections on planning, researching, designing and producing radio programming, with a participatory emphasis

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