People with disabilities experience significant health inequalities. In Malawi, where most individuals live in low-income rural settings, many of these inequalities are exacerbated by restricted access to health care
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services. This qualitative study explores the barriers to health care access experienced by individuals with a mobility or sensory impairment, or both, living in rural villages in Dowa district, central Malawi. In addition, the impact of a chronic lung condition, alongside a mobility or sensory impairment, on health care accessibility is explored.
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Strategic communication is used to raise awareness of issues among specific target populations. It aims to provide timely, evidence-based, authoritative information and guidance needed for public health action. Proper implementation of strategic communication leads t
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o sustained behaviour change and is essential in overcoming barriers to access to services or generating demand for such services.
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Acclerating attainment of universal health coverage and bridging the access inequity gap
Community health worker teams are potential game-changers in ensuring access to care in vulnerable communities. Who are they? What do they actually do? Can they help South Africa realize universal health coverage? As the proactive arm of the health
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services, community health workers teams provide household and community education, early screening, tracing and referrals for a range of health and social services. There is little local or global evidence on the household services provided by such teams, beyond specific disease-oriented activities such as for HIV and TB. This paper seeks to address this gap.
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Ensuring mental health and well-being has become a worldwide imperative and an important target
of the Sustainable Development Goals.
But in all countries around the world, our response has been woefully insufficient, and we have made
little progress to advance mental health as a fundamental huma
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n right.
One in ten people are affected by a mental health condition, up to 200 million people have an
intellectual disability and an estimated 50 million people have dementia. Many persons with mental
health conditions, or psychosocial, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities lack access to quality mental
health services that respond to their needs and respect their rights and dignity.
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Civil Society Organisations’ contribution towards community engagement to access and demand health services and encourage communities to practice appropriate health-seeking behaviour in Mon and Ch
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in States. The study recognizes that civil society can promote people-centered health by creating an enabling environment for broad and active citizen participation. The VHCs/Volunteer Working Groups play a key role in facilitating engagement between the village community and the Basic Health Staff (BHS).
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Civil Society Organisations’ contribution towards community engagement to access and demand health services and encourage communities to practice appropriate health-seeking behaviour in Mon and Ch
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in States
The following report is a study of 14 villages under the Collective Voices project (November 2015-December 2017) in the states of Mon and Chin. The objectives of the study were:
(1) to explore Village Health Committee (VHC) members, Basic Health Staff (BHS), and community members’ perceptions on community engagement in seeking and demanding health care and
(2) to describe health-seeking behaviours relating to Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and hygiene practices among target beneficiaries.
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First Edition~ This self advocacy toolkit for persons with mental, neurological and substance abuse disorders, developed by Basic Needs and CBM, is the end product of an action research intervention that tracked and documented processes for Self
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Advocacy in low resourced communities of Uganda. This toolkit presents simple and easy to apply principals and is a replica of good practices identified in the Consumer empowerment project implemented by BasicNeeds UK in Uganda between April 2005 and March 2008.
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After introducing Ethiopia's WASH sector challenges and trends, the plan describes IRC Ethiopia's vision and strategy which draws from IRC and Water For People's joint framework - Destination 2030. It then details the organisational changes and business development needed to implement the strategic
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plan. Detailed targets are provided in the annexes.
At IRC, we believe that turning on a working tap should not be a surprise or cause for celebration. We believe in a world where water, sanitation and hygiene services are fundamental utilities that everyone is able to take for granted. For good.
We face a complex challenge. Every year, thousands of projects within and beyond the WASH sector fail – the result of short-term targets and interventions, at the cost of longterm service solutions.
This leaves around a third of the world’s poorest people without access to the most basic of human rights, and leads directly to economic, social and health problems on a global scale. IRC exists to continually challenge and shape the established practices of the WASH sector.
Through collaboration and the active application of our expertise, we work with governments, service providers and international organisations to deliver systems and services that are truly built to last.
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Policy Brief, Updated in March 2017
Key messages
• Ensuring access to HIV prevention and critical services for non-disclosed men who have sex with men (MSM) remains a priority in Myanmar
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• Internet, social media and mobile applications can be important means for reaching these men with HIV prevention messages and referral to services.
• Strategies to protect individual privacy, confidentiality and security are essential for making mobile phone and web-based health services available, accessible and acceptable to MSM.
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Health Policy Plan (2017) 32 (5): 603-612; 10 pp. 318 kB
Expanding access to quality health services through task sharing
Training Manual and Reference Guide
Evidence-based psychological interventions are an important part of health, social, protection and education services and can help increase access to effective mental health treatments and progressi
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on towards universal health coverage.
This manual provides managers and others responsible for planning and delivering services with practical guidance on how to implement manualized psychological interventions for adults, adolescents and children. It covers the five key implementation steps: make an implementation plan; adapt for context; prepare the workforce; identify, assess and support potential beneficiaries; and monitor and evaluate the service.
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Conclusion: CBR has improved the quality of life, access to medical services, functional independence, autonomy, community inclusion, and empowerment of people with disabilities in LMICs in the Asia
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-Pacific region. However, challenges in the implementation of CBR remain. These include lack of awareness and understanding of CBR, and physical, environmental, socio-economical and personal barriers.
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The regional Migrant Response Plan (MRP) for the Horn of Africa and Yemen includes urgent life-saving humanitarian and protection interventions to improve safe and dignified access to basic
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services for migrants and host communities while ensuring medium- to long-term actions aimed at addressing the drivers of migration.
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Lessons from three African Countries.
Achieving Health for All, and in particular universal health coverage (UHC), will not happen without fully functioning basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) serv
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ices in all health care facilities. Such services are needed to provide quality care, ensure adherence to infection prevention and control (IPC) norms and standards and guarantee that facilities are able to provide environments that respect the dignity and human rights of all care seekers, especially mothers, newborns and children. WHO undertook a series of national situational analyses in three countries (Ghana, Ethiopia and Rwanda) to understand current barriers to change, accountability structures and measures to strengthen WASH in health care facilities and more broadly, the quality of health service delivery.
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Findings from this report reveal that, rates of early marriage are high, a significant percentage of children contribute to the household’s income or are its main source of income, and restrictions on the mobility of women and girls constrain their participation in social and economic activities a
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nd their access to basic services. As the overwhelming majority of refugees do not have paid employment and rely mainly on aid and dwindling family resources, the more the situation of displacement is prolonged the greater the likelihood of higher rates of child labour for boys and early marriage for girls.
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A training manual for safe motherhood action groups (MAMaZ)