Access to healthcare for persons with disabilities in Eswatini : a triadic exploration of barriers

Eswatini ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol in 2012, subsequently developing the National Disability Policy. Regardless of this ratification and the best intentions of the National Disability Policy, healthcare disparities still exist between persons with and without disabilities. This study aims to describe the barriers experienced by persons with disabilities when accessing healthcare services by focussing on the accounts of persons with disabilities themselves, caregivers of persons with disabilities and healthcare professionals. A further aim was to propose recommendations to address these identified barriers. A qualitative case study approach utilising focus groups was employed. Participants for the three focus groups were purposively selected. Data was analysed using a framework approach, employing Nvivo 1.5 qualitative analysis software. Findings revealed that access to healthcare for persons with disabilities was a challenge in Eswatini due to the unavailability of resources in the form of rehabilitation healthcare practitioners and assistive devices; lack of reasonable accommodation especially for persons with visual and communication impairments; stigma and discrimination; transportation costs as a result of the distance of healthcare services; and the lack of social support grants. Recommendations from this study propose an urgent need for Eswatini to be deliberate in implementing initiatives such as disability conscientisation programmes to address stigma and discrimination and to create an awareness of especially communication and visual disabilities. Intersectoral involvement, community engagement projects as well as addressing policy gaps are essential if Eswatini intends to mitigate these barriers.https://upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/adryam2022Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC

Preventive audiology

This book is an original scholarly book that introduces the concept of preventive audiology, with a specific focus on the African context, which is in line with the South African re-engineered primary healthcare strategy as well as the World Health Organisation’s approach. The book reflects on contextually relevant and responsive evidence-based perspectives, grounded in an African context on preventive audiology, in four major ear and hearing burdens of disease within the South African context: (1) early hearing detection and intervention, (2) middle ear pathologies, (3) ototoxicity, and (4) noise-induced hearing loss. The book represents innovative research, seen from both a South African and global perspective. It offers new discourse and argues for a paradigm shift in how audiology is theorised and performed, particularly in low-and-middle-income country contexts. The goal of this book is to motivate a paradigm shift in how the ear and hearing care is approached within this low-and-middle-income country context while arguing for Afrocentric best practice evidence that leads to next practice

Preventive audiology

This book is an original scholarly book that introduces the concept of preventive audiology, with a specific focus on the African context, which is in line with the South African re-engineered primary healthcare strategy as well as the World Health Organisation’s approach. The book reflects on contextually relevant and responsive evidence-based perspectives, grounded in an African context on preventive audiology, in four major ear and hearing burdens of disease within the South African context: (1) early hearing detection and intervention, (2) middle ear pathologies, (3) ototoxicity, and (4) noise-induced hearing loss. The book represents innovative research, seen from both a South African and global perspective. It offers new discourse and argues for a paradigm shift in how audiology is theorised and performed, particularly in low-and-middle-income country contexts. The goal of this book is to motivate a paradigm shift in how the ear and hearing care is approached within this low-and-middle-income country context while arguing for Afrocentric best practice evidence that leads to next practice

‘I felt pain. Deep pain…’: Experiences of primary caregivers of stroke survivors with aphasia in a South African township

Background: Aphasia is an acquired impairment in language and in the cognitive processes that underlie language. Aphasia affects the quality of life of the person with aphasia (PWA) and his or her families in various ways in diverse contexts and cultures. It is therefore important that speech language therapists understand how different contextual and cultural factors may mediate experiences. Purpose: The aim of the study was to describe the caregiving experience of female caregivers of PWA residing in Tembisa, a township situated in the east of Johannesburg. Method: Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with primary caregivers of PWA. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 14 primary caregivers of PWA who were daughters, daughters-in-law or wives of the PWA. The interviews were conducted in participants’ first language and analysed by the researcher, who is proficient in isiZulu. Data were analysed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Results: Findings indicated that caregivers are unfamiliar with aphasia and the support available to them. Participants experienced frustration and found communication to be challenging owing to their lack of communication strategies. The participants’ experiences reflected their context-specific experiences, such as feminisation of caregiving, barriers to healthcare, the influence of low health literacy and contextual perspectives on stroke and aphasia. Conclusions: Contextual factors of caregivers in Tembisa have an influence on the experiences between caregivers and PWA, the feelings of individuals and families and health-seeking behaviours of individuals and families