Including Disabled People in Sanitation and Hygiene Services

The needs of disabled people in developing countries are consistently overlooked when it comes to providing sanitation and hygiene services. This reality has severe and widespread consequences for the health, dignity, education, and employment of disabled people and their caregivers. This briefing note explores these issues and suggests how more and better research could influence policy and improve programmes

Clean cooking for every ‘body’: Including people with disabilities in modern energy cooking services in the global south

Clean cooking solutions, with greater access to cleaner and safer cooking fuels than traditional energy sources, are key to ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy services for all. However, the needs of the 1 billion people living with disabilities globally who face disproportionate levels of poverty, poor access to nutrition, and challenges with buying and preparing food, have been neglected from discussions around the expansion of access to clean cooking across low- and middle-income countries. Drawing on academic and grey literature and informal discussions with disability and energy sector experts, this paper calls for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the transition to clean cooking, highlighting the potential benefits that this can bring. Including people with disabilities in clean cooking can improve the nutritional and economic status of their households, facilitate their independence, provide routes for inclusive technological innovation, and improve the health of people with disabilities. People with disabilities need to be included in the expansion of access to clean cooking. Engaging people with disabilities as champions of clean cooking, involving organisations of disabled persons, engaging disabled men and boys as well as disabled women, and linking to global resources such as social media are pivotal to widening access to clean cooking. Involving people with disabilities in clean cooking can ensure that every ‘body’ is part of efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7

Surviving polio in a post-polio world.

Excitement mounts as the global health and international development communities anticipate a polio-free world. Despite substantial political and logistical hurdles, only 223 cases of wild poliovirus in three countries were reported in 2012. Down 99% from the estimated 350,000 annual cases in 125 countries in 1988-this decline signals the imminent global eradication of polio. However, elimination of new polio cases should not also signal an end to worldwide engagement with polio. As many as 20 million continue to live with the disabling consequences of the disease. In developed countries where polio immunization became universal after dissemination of the polio vaccine in the 1950s, almost all individuals who have had polio are now above age 50. But in many developing countries where polio vaccination campaigns reached large segments of the population only after 1988, millions disabled by polio are still children or young adults. Demographically, this group is also different. After three decades of immunization efforts, those children unvaccinated in the late 1980s were more likely to be from poorer rural and slum communities and to be girls-groups not only harder to reach than more affluent members of the population but also individuals who, if they contract polio, are less likely to have access to medical and rehabilitation programs or education, job training, employment and social support services. The commitment to eradicate polio should not be considered complete while those living with the disabling sequelae of polio continue to live in poor health, poverty and social isolation. This paper reviews what is currently known about disabled survivors of polio and highlights areas of need in public health research, policy and programming. Based on a literature review, discussion and field observations, we identify continuing challenges posed by polio and argue that the attention, funding and commitment now being directed towards eradication be shifted to provide for the rehabilitative, medical, educational and social needs of those for whom the disabling sequelae of polio will remain a daily challenge for decades to come

Disability and poverty: the need for a more nuanced understanding of implications for development policy and practice

The international development community is beginning to recognise that people with disabilities constitute among the poorest and most vulnerable of all groups and thus must be a core issue in development policies and programmes. Yet, the relationship between disability and poverty remains ill-defined and under-researched, with few studies providing robust and verifiable data that examines the intricacies of this relationship. A second, linked issue is the need for – and current lack of – criteria to assess whether and how disability-specific and disability ‘mainstreamed’ or ‘inclusive’ programmes work in combating the exclusion, marginalisation and poverty of people with disabilities. This article reviews existing knowledge and theory regarding the disability/poverty nexus. Using both established theoretical constructs and field based data, it attempts to identify what knowledge gaps exist and need to be addressed with future research

Inter- and Intra-household Perceived Relative Inequality Among Disabled and Non-disabled People in Liberia

Evidence suggests that people with disabilities are the most marginalised and vulnerable group within any population. However, little is known about the extent of inequality between people with and without disabilities in contexts where the majority of persons experience extreme poverty and hardship. This includes in Liberia, where very little is understood about the lives of disabled people in general. This study uses a multidimensional wellbeing framework to understand perceived relative inequality associated with disability by assessing several facets of wellbeing across and within households containing disabled members (N = 485) or households with no disabled members (N = 538) in Liberian communities (Total individuals surveyed, N = 2020). Statistical comparisons (adjusted for age, sex, education and wealth differences and clustered at the household, village and county level) reveal that disabled Liberians are managing similarly to non-disabled Liberians in terms of income and education, but experience many perceived relative inequalities including in life satisfaction, transport access, political participation and social inclusion. Our results further suggest that disability may lead to perceived relative inequality at the household level in terms of trust held in neighbours. However, they also show that being the head of a household may protect against perceived relative inequality in certain dimensions (e.g. healthcare and transport access, political participation) irrespective of disability status. Results are discussed in terms of practical implications for development efforts in Liberia and for disabled people in other low- and middle-income settings

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative-polio eradication cannot be the only goal.

No abstract available

NGOs and the Promotion of the Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Girls and Young Women with Disabilities in Zimbabwe

This case study investigates strategies used by the NGO Leonard Cheshire Disability Zimbabwe (LCDZ) to promote the SRHRs of girls and young women with disabilities in Zimbabwe. The findings show that LCDZ employed a combination of six strategies. These are: (1) building practical knowledge on SRHRs; (2) increasing community awareness and sensitivity; (3) providing SRHRs-related education; (4) enhancing access to justice and related services for survivors of sexual violence; (5) delivering assistive devices; and (6) promoting the livelihoods and economic empowerment. LCDZ made use of multi-stakeholder partnerships to implement these strategies, leveraging complementary skills and experience in the promotion of SRHRs. In each of these strategies, girls and young women with disabilities are the target group, with other stakeholders brought together to support them