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These guidelines were developed to advance understanding of the needs and challenges of persons living with deafblindness and to promote their inclusion in society. The target audience are members of the CBM Federation with particular interest to, among others staff at Regional and Country Offices, Member Associations, co-workers, partners (including governments, education agencies, public and private service providers, and professionals), as well as persons living with deafblindness and their families.

Part One gives an overview of the impact deafblindness can have on an individual’s development and learning. It emphasises the need for a continuum of services and programmes, including early detection, referral, educational input, and family support.

Part Two outlines components of education and rehabilitation programmes. It provides guidelines on communication, holistic assessment procedures, assistive devices, advocacy and self-determination, transition planning, and discusses the importance of on-going regular access to health and therapeutic services.

Part Three considers how to improve and expand existing services through the provision of on-going personnel capacity building, and through networking with key stakeholders, to consider intersecting issues and service expansion. Each section includes an overview of the topic explored, some case studies and considerations for service implementation.

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene presents updated national, regional and global estimates for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in households in its 2019 update report, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000–2017: Special focus on inequalities. The report shows that in 2017:

The population using safely managed drinking water services increased from 61 per cent to 71 per cent
The population using safely managed sanitation services increased from 28 per cent to 45 per cent
60 per cent of the global population had basic handwashing facilities with soap and water at home

The report also focuses on inequalities between and within countries and reveals populations most at risk of being left-behind.

Every 3 seconds someone develops dementia and it’s one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Despite being some of the most at-risk in times of natural disaster, conflict and forced migration, there is a lack of awareness that dementia is a medical condition, meaning people with dementia are being neglected when they’re most in need of support.

This report investigates ways humanitarian emergency responses can protect and support people living with dementia. It draws on the experiences of people affected by dementia, Alzheimer’s specialists in affected countries, humanitarian organisations and inter-governmental organisations including the World Health Organisation and UNHCR.

Our findings reflect a wider issue of a lack of support for older people and those with disabilities in humanitarian response. We have found that people with dementia are systemically overlooked, due to a lack of global awareness of the condition and associated stigma.

The report is a collaboration between the Global Alzheimer’s & Dementia Action Alliance, Alzheimer’s Disease International and Alzheimer’s Pakistan.

The 2030 and Counting pilot project sought to give youth with disabilities a seat at the table on the SDGs – providing them with the tools and confidence they need to become their own agents of change. This report provides an overview of the project, together with learnings and recommendations for the future.

In its pilot year, 2030 and Counting brought together young women and men with disabilities and DPOs from Kenya, the Philippines and Zambia to report on and advocate for their rights through the framework of the SDGs

The project had three consecutive phases: Training, Story gathering (data collection) and Influencing. 

In total, 332 reports were collected between June and September 2018. The highest number of reports were submitted under the theme of Education (44%), followed by Work (33%), and Health (14%). The category of Other, which almost entirely focused on discrimination in daily life, accounted for 8%. 80% of reporters had smartphones, offering the potential to increase the use of this feature in future.
 

The unmet need for rehabilitation is profound and is likely to worsen as population health shifts towards longer lives lived with more ill-health and disability. The WHO Global Action Plan on Disability and the Rehabilitation 2030 framework [1] call for quality evidence to inform targeted responses.
The intent of this work is to examine six IDSCs (Integrated Disability Service Centres) in detail but to use the results to inform new activities through the network of more than 100 Integrated Disability Service Centres, with potential to influence practice in other services. As such, results of this work have the potential to directly inform policy decisions concerning future investments in rehabilitation services in Bangladesh and bring awareness to key stakeholders on current challenges and potential solutions.

Research was conducted during March-October 2018 in Kurigram, Tangail, Manikgonj, Dhaka and Narsingdi districts of Bangladesh to map out the current trends and determinants of good coordination
between health and rehabilitation, emphasising quantitative measures of: timeliness, continuity, acceptability, availability and integration

This replication guidebook is a tool that aims to highlight the link between social exclusion and poverty and is based on the premise that a country cannot achieve its development targets, if a section of its people is left behind.

This guidebook aims to show practitioners practical ways of working on economic development that inclusive of socially excluded groups such as women, people with disabilities, people living in poverty, etc. It provides corresponding concepts, explains the steps and suggests tools that may help practitioners use and adapt to their context. The context of this book are based on field level experience of the project team of the Inclusive Economic Development project.

Thisd report presents findings of research into report into progress towards inclusive education for disabled children in Kazakhstan and also presents recommendations for future progress.

Field research for this report was carried out between September 2017 and December 2018. The report is based on over 150 interviews with children and young adults with disabilities, their families, and disability rights activists, in multiple cities in Kazakhstan: Almaty, Astana, Kostanay, Kyzylorda, Shymkent, and Taldikorgan. Human Rights Watch researchers visited one PMPK office, five inclusive schools, and four special schools in Almaty and one inclusive school in Kyzylorda. Human Rights Watch also visited three neurological-psychiatric institutions for children in Almaty, Karaganda, and Shymkent. Human Rights Watch met and corresponded with officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and exchanged letters with the Ministries of Education and Health, and with the Almaty City Administration.

In early March 2019, heavy rains and floods affected the majority of the districts in southern Malawi. At least 115,000 were affected, with scores of fatalities, injured and missing persons. The situation intensified when Cyclone Idai reached Malawi, increasing the devastation caused by heavy rain weeks earlier. When Cyclone Idai caused the Shire river to reach capacity and flood, the districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje were among the worst affected. The aim of this rapid needs assessment was to inform the design of  HelpAge International’s own humanitarian response to the devastating impact of Cyclone Idai on older people in Malawi. The Malawi Network of Older Persons’ Organisations (MANEPO) and HelpAge International jointly conducted the assessment in Chikwawa and Nsanje districts in March 2019. The report also aims to support organisations operating in the affected areas to develop inclusive programmes and support advocacy for the rights of older people to be upheld in the response. The report contains key findings of the assessment, together with observations and analysis. 

New accessibility-themed emojis including characters with hearing aids, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, white "probing" canes and guide dogs are to be introduced.

Their inclusion in 2019's official list means many smartphones should gain them in the second half of the year