Resources search

The Liberia Evidence Lab: A new scalable model to deliver School Eye Health

EYElliance & Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)
October 2020

Expand view

The case study highlights how school eye health programs can be successfully scaled in under-resourced and under-capacitated contexts, and ultimately supported through a sustainable financing mechanism. The case study shows how school eye health is an entry point and critical building block to comprehensive national eye health coverage. Through a pilot of the school eye health model, approximately 50,000 children received eye screenings across three counties in Liberia

COVID-19 and Disability; Exploring a new innovation landscape

HOLLOWAY, Catherine
OLDFREY, Ben
CHIIRA, Bernard
KETT, Maria
July 2020

Expand view

This webinar explored the impact of, and learnings from COVID-19 on Disability Innovation. We heard from those shifting their work in response to the pandemic. We also looked at how learnings from Assistive Technology (AT) are being applied to this unprecedented global environment.

Finally, there was an overview of how knowledge was captured during Ebola can support the response to this latest threat

Persons with disabilities must not bear the brunt of COVID-19 aftermath: Lessons from Ebola in Liberia (SDDirect COVID-19 pandemic blog series)

CAREW, Mark
May 2020

Expand view

The importance of ensuring persons with disabilities are not excluded as part of COVID-19 responses is explored.
Lessons learnt from the 2014-2017 Ebola outbreak in Liberia are discussed highlighting access to information, access to healthcare and the social impact. Research in Liberia combined surveys and interviews with people from households with a disabled person as well as those without, and included responses from 560 persons living in areas that had ‘many’ or ‘few’ cases of Ebola.

Inter- and intra-household perceived relative inequality among disabled and non-disabled people in Liberia

CAREW, Mark T.
COLBOURN, Tim
COLE, Ellie
NGAFUAN, Richard
GROCE, Nora
KETT, Maria
July 2019

Expand view

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.

 

PLoS ONE 14(7)

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217873

Diagnostic study on Disabled Peoples’ Organisations and National Union of Organisations of the Disabled in Liberia

DEEPAK, Sunil
HARRIS, Naomi
November 2018

Expand view

A diagnostic study was carried out by a consultant to the DASU project in collaboration with the national umbrella organisation “National Union of Organizations of the
Disabled” (NUOD) to assess the institutional capacities of Disabled Peoples’ Organizations (DPOs) in Liberia. The study involved DPOs from the national capital Monrovia and in three counties – Bong, Grand Gedeh and Nimba.
The study included an initial Desk Review, collection of case studies from the field and visits to the counties to meet the county DPOs. Following these, a workshop was organised
in Monrovia in which representatives of NUOD and the concerned DPOs took part. The workshop looked at the strengths and challenges faced by NUOD and DPOs, focusing on the skills needed for stronger and active DPO leadership.

Compliance with standards of practice for health-related rehabilitation in low and middle-income settings: development and implementation of a novel scoring method

PRYOR, Wesley
NEWAR, Pushpak
RETIS, Chiara
URSEAU, Isabelle
April 2018

Expand view

Purpose: To (A) develop a method for measuring compliance with standards, and (B) implementation of the method in 12 rehabilitation centers in six low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

 

Methods: In part A, existing standards were compiled and operationalized into scores, organized into 5 ‘scorecards’ and 15 ‘sub-scorecards’, then tested and refined in an iterative process. In part B, 12 rehabilitation centers in 6 countries implemented the standards using the new method, revealing relative performance between centers, and across different standards. Internal consistency of scores within domains was computed using Chronbach’s alpha.

 

Results: A standardized method for scoring compliance with standards for rehabilitation was developed. The method evaluated compliance with standards in five domains of practice: user focused approach, service outputs, finances, staff, and general management. Multiple standards within domains were strongly related, with Chronbach’s alpha >0.80 for all but the equipment and supplies domain. Overall, in the 12 rehabilitation centers examined, 36% of standards were met or exceeded. Compliance within each scoring domain was 56% (user-focused approach), 38% (service outputs), 27% (financial management), 30% (staff management), and 33% (general management). Two out of 12 (17%) of centers met more than two-thirds of the standards, 3 (25%) met more than one-third of standards, while the remaining 7 (58%) met less than one-third of standards.

 

Conclusions: A new, standardized method for measuring performance of rehabilitation services in LMICs was developed. The method examines standards in five rehabilitation practice domains, and can be used to understand barriers to quality performance, particularly in resource-constrained settings. Implementation of the method demonstrated that current compliance with standards is modest. Ongoing interest in new standards for rehabilitation practice should be accompanied by measures to ensure they are used to strengthen quality in an emerging rehabilitation sector.

Mobile for development : transforming global healthcare through mobile technology

THEVATHASAN, Vanessa
GRADZEWICZ, Agnes
RUETZEL, Sonja
2015

Expand view

This paper outlines the need for greater connectivity & accessibility in less developed countries. Following this, the authors present the benefits of various different ‘mHealth’ solutions, presented through case studies. The report concludes by outlining some of the constraints holding back greater ‘mHealth’ innovation, including financing and sustainability issues

Beneath the rhetoric: Policy to reduce the mental health treatment gap in Africa

COOPER, Sara
2015

Expand view

In this paper I problematize knowledge on reducing the ‘gap’ in treatment produced by 14 national mental health policies in Africa. To contextualize this analysis, I begin with a historic-political account of the emergence of the notion of primary health care and its entanglement within decolonization forces of the 1960s. I unpack how and why this concept was subsequently atrophied, being stripped of its more revolutionary sentiments from the 1980s. Against this backdrop, I show how, although the 14 national mental health policies are saturated with the rhetoric of primary health care and associated concepts of community participation and ownership, in practice they tend to marginalize local meaning-systems and endorse a top-down framework heavily informed by colonial medicine. The policies thus end up reproducing many of the very Eurocentric assumptions that the original primary health care notion sought to transcend. More specifically, the paradigms of evidence-based research/practice and individualised human rights become the gatekeepers of knowledge. These two paradigms, which are deeply embedded within contemporary global mental health discourse, are legislating what are legitimate forms of knowing, and by extension, valid forms of care. I argue that a greater appreciation of the primary health care concept, in its earliest formulation, offers a potentially fruitful terrain of engagement for developing more contextually-embedded and epistemologically appropriate mental health policies in Africa. This in turn might help reduce the current ‘gap’ in mental health care treatment so many countries on the continent face.

 

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 3

Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work I

DIMBARRE KPEHOUNTON, Cathy
et al
June 2013

Expand view

This video series is part of the Making It Work initiative, “Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work”, which sets out good practice for inclusive employment of people with disabilities in West Africa, in line with CPRD Article 27 and makes recommendations for public and private employers, microfinance institutions, governments and their partners so that they become agents of change and commit themselves to inclusive policies promoting access to decent jobs for people with disabilities in West Africa. This part I video examines the “right to set up a micro-enterprise: how can microfinance institutions make it work? How do microfinance institutions give people with disabilities access to financial services to help them start or develop small businesses successfully?”

Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work II

DIMBARRE KPEHOUNTON, Cathy
et al
June 2013

Expand view

This video series is part of the Making It Work initiative, “Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work”, which sets out good practice for inclusive employment of people with disabilities in West Africa, in line with CPRD Article 27 and makes recommendations for public and private employers, microfinance institutions, governments and their partners so that they become agents of change and commit themselves to inclusive policies promoting access to decent jobs for people with disabilities in West Africa. This part II video examines the “right to employment: how can employers make it work? How and why have public and private employers recruited people with disabilities? and how have they encouraged their integration into the business or service?"

Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work III

DIMBARRE KPEHOUNTON, Cathy
et al
June 2013

Expand view

This video series is part of the Making It Work initiative, “Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work”, which sets out good practice for inclusive employment of people with disabilities in West Africa, in line with CPRD Article 27 and makes recommendations for public and private employers, microfinance institutions, governments and their partners so that they become agents of change and commit themselves to inclusive policies promoting access to decent jobs for people with disabilities in West Africa. This part III video examines the “right to work: how technical and financial partners can make it work? and how have technical and financial partners or investors contributed to the success of people with disabilities through access to decent jobs?”

Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work IV

DIMBARRE KPEHOUNTON, Cathy
et al
June 2013

Expand view

This video series is part of the Making It Work initiative, “Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work”, which sets out good practice for inclusive employment of people with disabilities in West Africa, in line with CPRD Article 27 and makes recommendations for public and private employers, microfinance institutions, governments and their partners so that they become agents of change and commit themselves to inclusive policies promoting access to decent jobs for people with disabilities in West Africa.  This part IV video examines the “right to work: how governments can make it work? and how do governments and ministries promote access to employment for people with disabilities through the design and implementation of disability-inclusive public policies and development strategies?”

Access to employment for all in West Africa : let’s make it work

DIMBARRE KPEHOUNTON, Cathy
et al
2013

Expand view

This Making It Work multi-stakeholder initiative documents good practice for inclusive employment of people with disabilities, in order to promote effective implementation Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in seven West African countries. “The objective was to make recommendations for public and private employers, microfinance institutions, governments and their partners in order that they become agents of change and commit themselves to inclusive policies promoting access to decent jobs for people with disabilities in West Africa”

Local development in West Africa : how to make it inclusive for all?

DIMBARRE KPEHOUNTON, Cathy
et al
January 2013

Expand view

“With the push towards decentralization, local governments are gradually emerging as development agents. Overarching development policies are shaped at a national level while public policies are devised and implemented at the local level by local authorities. This film showcases local stakeholders’ contribution to development. It aims to answer the question posed by many local government representatives: ‘How to make local development policies inclusive for all?’ ‘Making it INCLUSIVE’ means not only enabling the citizens to partake in consultation and decision-making processes, but also offering them equal access to services. Within this framework the most vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, are treated on a par with others”

Local development in West Africa : how to make it inclusive for all? : accompanying booklet

DIMBARRE KPEHOUNTON, Cathy
et al
2012

Expand view

“With the push towards decentralization, local governments are gradually emerging as development agents. Overarching development policies are shaped at a national level while public policies are devised and implemented at the local level by local authorities. This booklet accompanies the film that showcases local stakeholders’ contribution to development. It aims to answer the question posed by many local government representatives: ‘How to make local development policies inclusive for all?’ ‘Making it INCLUSIVE’ means not only enabling the citizens to partake in consultation and decision-making processes, but also offering them equal access to services. Within this framework the most vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, are treated on a par with others”

Disability, CBR and inclusive development (DCID), 2011, Vol. 22 No. 1

2011

Expand view

Original Research Articles

  • Quality of life, perceived stigma, activity and participation of people with leprosy-related disabilities in south-east Nepal
  • The face of disability in Nigeria: a disability survey in Kogi and Niger states
  • The communication deall developmental checklist - inter rater reliability
  • ‘Welcome to my life!’ photovoice: needs assessment of, and by, persons with physical disabilities in the Kumasi metropolis, Ghana
  • Rehabilitation services for persons affected by stroke in Jordan
  • CBR matrix and perceived training needs of CBR workers: a multi-country study

 

Brief reports

  • impact of micro credit scheme for persons with physical disabilities in Herat, Afghanistan.
  • impact of physical therapy on burden of caregivers of individuals with functional disability
  • perceptions of parents of typical children towards inclusive education

 

CBR matrix and perceived training needs of CBR workers: a multi-country study

DEEPAK, Sunil
2011

Expand view

CBR Matrix, proposed in the CBR Guidelines, provides a systematic framework for organising and analysing CBR activities. A sample of experienced CBR workers, active at community level in 7 countries , were asked for information about different activities they actually carry out, so as to understand the applicability of CBR Matrix framework in the field. The CBR workers were also asked to identify their most pressing learning needs in different areas of CBR Matrix.

This study shows that CBR Matrix can be a useful framework to understand field-level activities in CBR projects. The study has identified a number of priority learning needs, in terms of different domains of CBR Matrix, and in terms of different disabilities. It also shows that globally, areas related to advocacy, lobbying, legal protection and rights-based approach, are the most important learning needs identified by CBR workers.

Rights in action : good practices for inclusive local governance in West Africa

PIATTA, Francesca
September 2010

Expand view

This is a presentation on the report of the Rights in Action initiative. The primary objective of this Making It Work initiative is to promote practical, evidence-based recommendations on how to achieve inclusive local governance in West Africa, based on collected examples of good practice in line with Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, so that people with disabilities have an active role in shaping the local policies and services that impact directly on their lives. The presentation outlines the objectives of the initiative, the approach used and advocacy activities

The health worker shortage in Africa : are enough physicians and nurses being trained?

KINFU, Yohannes
et al
February 2009

Expand view

"The health worker shortage in sub-Saharan Africa derives from many causes, yet the dynamics of entry into and exit from the health workforce in many of these countries remain poorly understood. This limits the capacity of national governments and their international development partners to design and implement appropriate intervention programmes. This paper provides some of this information through the first systematic estimates of health worker inflow and outflow in selected sub-Saharan African countries"

Violence free zone : end school-related violence, prevent HIV/AIDS

SALTER, Nick
SCHECHTMAN, Lisa
September 2007

Expand view

The objective of this call to action is to review the extent to which national education plans, the Fast Track Initiative, donor countries, and established international NGOs recognise and comprehensively combat school-related violence (SRV) in a review of 10 African countries. The brief contains five main sections and two Appendices. It outlines the details and consequences of school-related violence; and the major findings and broader trends from the country review process; it focuses on a discussion of models and programs employed to effectively counter SRV and highlights overall best practices; it reviews and critiques donor governments and international agencies in relation to their work on SRV; and it outlines the recommendations and call to action for going to scale with programmes to counter SRV

Pages

E-bulletin