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Physical therapy can improve the overall quality of life of diabetes mellitus clients with peripheral neuropathy and can alleviate the symptoms of neuropathy. This paper assesses the effectiveness of interventions used by physical therapists to minimise dysfunctions in people with DPN. It reviews the different treatment strategies and presents evidence and conditions for its applications. 

Disability, CBR and Inclusive Development, Vol 30, No 1 (2019)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) refers to conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. Most commonly this includes coronary heart disease (heart attacks), cerebrovascular disease (stroke) or raised blood pressure (hypertension). A stroke occurs when a blood clot (ischaemia) or a bleed (haemorrhage) disrupts the blood supply to part of the brain, starving that area of oxygen. Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability. Common impairments and activity limitations from cardiovascular diseases are hemiplegia, word forming difficulties and slurring of speech, cognitive function, depression, sensory loss and shortness of breath. Different examples of rehabilitation in the care continuum are given. A case study of stroke in Nepal is provided. 

"The International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (IF) together with the European Disability Forum (EDF) and the European Patients Forum (EPF) conducted a survey among their networks to assess the impact of the Directive 2011/24/EU on the application of patients’ rights in cross border healthcare (crossborder healthcare Directive) on persons with disabilities and chronic conditions in the EU. The findings of the survey showed low awareness and low use of the Directive. A vast majority of 85% has never used crossborder healthcare even though 69% of respondents might have used it had they received information about it. Approximately three quarters (77%) of respondents have never heard about the Directive" 

"This report maps the situation of persons with SBH in relation to healthcare access and is a follow up of the CRPD Concluding Observations Art.25. Through a comprehensive survey, IF collected valuable data on the experiences, satisfaction, and perceptions of healthcare coverage of individuals with SBH across Europe. Based on its findings, the financial coverage of treatment and assistive products for patients with SBH is grossly insufficient across the EU. Europe as a whole lacks multidisciplinary care and specialised SBH teams, which translates into long waiting times and insufficient knowledge of the SBH specificities. 

Considering these findings, IF urges the EU Member States to adequately support the healthcare needs of persons with SBH, and to invest more substantially into creating multidisciplinary clinics that can help avoid preventable complications 11 and may reduce the overall burden 12 on the patient and the system. In addition, the Member States should actively support creation of the European Reference Networks as a way of improving care for persons with SBH. IF also calls on the European institutions for support in training medical professionals on rights of persons with disabilities."

This book offers concrete ideas and examples to those interested in driving a radically different approach to supporting people with dementia and their families. "We have explored a number of approaches with people who have been leading their development. We have been keen to look at both approaches that emerge from working directly to improve support for people with dementia and others that have different roots, but we think are potentially very transferable. None of the approaches is yet being used at any significant scale". Discussions and examples are all UK based. There is an introduction detailing current problems and issues with care and support for people with dementia. 10 approaches are described for housing and support, 4 concerned with enabling people to have good days and 7 associated with enabling people to connect with their community. 

This Guidance Note provides DFID staff with an overview of how to ensure the needs of older persons and people with disabilities, including people with injuries and chronic diseases, are addressed in humanitarian response

“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”

This study compared the social constraints of diabetic patients and ex-leprosy patients and investigated combined self-care groups for ex-leprosy patients and diabetic patients. The physical complications and social problems in ex-leprosy and diabetic patients with neuropathy are similar. Despite the fact that diabetic patients preferred disease-specific, homogeneous self-care groups, the authors believe that the option of combined groups is a promising strategy. Therefore, further research is warranted into the acceptance and impact of self-care groups as a strategy to reduce social constraints by diseases causing neuropathy 

Frontiers in Medicine, Vol 1

Malnutrition and neurodisability are both major public health problems in Africa. This review highlights key areas where they interact. These areas of interaction include maternal malnutrition, toxin ingestion, macronutrient malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies - all of which cause or are caused by neurodisability, The article concludes that there is an urgent need for nutrition and disability programmes to work more closely together

Seminars in Pediatric Neurology, Volume 21, Issue 1