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A systematic literature review of the quality of evidence for injury and rehabilitation interventions in humanitarian crises

SMITH, James
ROBERTS, Bayard
KNIGHT, Abigail
GOSSELIN, Richard
BLANCHET, Karl
July 2015

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Introduction: Humanitarian crises continue to pose a significant threat to health; the United Nations estimates that 144 million people are directly affected by conflict or environmental disasters. During most humanitarian crises, surgical and rehabilitative interventions remain a priority.

 

Objectives: This review assessed the quality of evidence that informs injury and physical rehabilitation interventions in humanitarian crises.

 

Methods: Peer-reviewed and grey literature sources were assessed in a systematic manner. Selected papers were evaluated using quality criteria based on a modified version of the STROBE protocol.

 

Results: 46 papers met the inclusion criteria. 63 % of the papers referred to situations of armed conflict, of which the Yugoslav Wars were the most studied crisis context. 59 % of the studies were published since the year 2000. However, only two studies were considered of a high quality.

 

Conclusions: While there is now a greater emphasis on research in this sector, the volume of evidence remains inadequate given the growing number of humanitarian programmes worldwide. Further research is needed to ensure a greater breadth and depth of understanding of the most appropriate interventions in different settings.

 

International Journal of Public Health, Vol 60

Climate change’s role in disaster risk reduction’s future : beyond vulnerability and resilience

KELMAN, Ilan
GAILLARD, J C
MERCER, Jessica
March 2015

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A seminal policy year for development and sustainability occurs in 2015 due to three parallel processes that seek long-term agreements for climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals, and disaster risk reduction. Little reason exists to separate them, since all three examine and aim to deal with many similar processes, including vulnerability and resilience. This article uses vulnerability and resilience to explore the intersections and overlaps amongst climate change, disaster risk reduction, and sustainability. Critiquing concepts such as “return to normal” and “double exposure” demonstrate how separating climate change from wider contexts is counterproductive. Climate change is one contributor to disaster risk and one creeping environmental change amongst many, and not necessarily the most prominent or fundamental contributor. Yet climate change has become politically important, yielding an opportunity to highlight and tackle the deep-rooted vulnerability processes that cause “multiple exposure” to multiple threats. To enhance resilience processes that deal with the challenges, a prudent place for climate change would be as a subset within disaster risk reduction. Climate change adaptation therefore becomes one of many processes within disaster risk reduction. In turn, disaster risk reduction should sit within development and sustainability to avoid isolation from topics wider than disaster risk. Integration of the topics in this way moves beyond expressions of vulnerability and resilience towards a vision of disaster risk reduction’s future that ends tribalism and separation in order to work together to achieve common goals for humanity.

Children with disabilities and disaster risk reduction : a review

RONOH, Steve
GAILLARD, JC
MARLOWE, Jay
March 2015

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Children with disabilities are often excluded from disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives and, as a result, can experience amplified physical, psychological, and educational vulnerabilities. Research on children with disabilities during disasters is lacking, and their potential value in helping shape inclusive policies in DRR planning has been largely overlooked by both researchers and policymakers. This article highlights the existing research and knowledge gap. The review includes literature from two areas of scholarship in relation to disasters—children, and people with disabilities—and provides a critique of the prevailing medical, economic, and social discourses that conceptualize disability and associated implications for DRR. The article analyzes the different models in which disability has been conceptualized, and the role this has played in the inclusion or exclusion of children with disabilities in DRR activities and in determining access to necessary resources in the face of disaster. Finally, the study explores possible pathways to studying the contribution and involvement of children with disabilities in DRR.

 

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, Volume 6 Issue 1

The equal rights review : volume nine

PETROVA, Dimitrina
Ed
2012

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The Equal Rights Review (ERR) is an interdisciplinary biannual journal intended as a forum for the exchange of legal, philosophical, sociological and other ideas and practical insights for those who are promoting equality. This issue contains a special section on disability equality, as well as an interview on the same issue with Hiroshi Kawamura, Founder and President of the DAISY Consortium, Japan, and Kapka Panayotova, Director of the Centre for Independent Living in Sofia, Bulgaria
The Equal Rights Review, Vol Nine

Preparedness and warning systems for populations with special needs : ensuring everyone gets the message (and knows what to do)

SULLIVAN, Helen T
HÄKKINEN, Markku T
May 2011

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This paper discusses the use of information and communications technologies systems in the use of disaster management situations such as those providing early warnings, and how they benefit persons with disabilities (and the general population).  An ongoing project in Japan provided a case study in which a disaster preparedness information system is meeting the need of persons with disabilities


Geotechnical and Geological Engineering Journal, Volume 29, Issue 3

Community-based rehabilitation in post-conflict and emergency situations

EIDE, Arne H
2010

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"Drawing on existing literature and personal experience with CBR in post-conflict areas, this chapter explores the role of CBR in post-conflict zones and how CBR, as a multifaceted and flexible strategy for community development, may constitute a viable strategy for people with disabilities in post-conflict and emergency situations"
Chapter 5 from "Trauma rehabilitation after war and conflict: community and individual perspectives" edited by MARTZ, Erin

Disability, gender and intimate partner violence : relationships from the behavioral risk factor surveillance system

SMITH, Diane L
December 2007

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"Research on women with disabilities has found that the most common perpetrators of violence were current or former intimate partners. This article examines intimate partner sexual and physical abuse experienced by women with disabilities compared to women without disabilities and men with and without disabilities through chi square analysis and regression analysis using data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Results show that women with disabilities experienced almost twice the rate of all forms of abuse compared to the other populations. Variables increasing the likelihood of abuse include being female, disabled, not employed, uncoupled and younger age. Implications for future research, screening and intervention for rehabilitation professionals are discussed"
Sexuality and Disability, Vol. 26, Issue 1

Language impairment and sexual assault of girls and women : findings from a community sample

BROWNLIE, E. B
et al
2007

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"This study reports on a community sample of children with speech or language impairment, followed to age 25. Sexual assault history was assessed based on two questions from the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Posttraumatic Stress Disorder module. Women with language impairment (n = 33) were more likely than women with unimpaired language (n = 59) to report sexual abuse/assault, controlled for socioeconomic status. Sexual assault was associated with higher rates of psychiatric disorders and poorer functioning. Women with neither language impairment nor a history of sexual assault had fewer psychiatric disorders and higher functioning than women with language impairment and/or a history of sexual assault"
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Vol 35, No 4

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