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The Field Manual has been created to provide technical guidance for those with medical training.  It enables the user to adapt their knowledge to the treatment of severely injured children.  It has paediatric-specific sections on:

• Pre-hospital care and transport
• Damage control resuscitation, surgery and intensive care
• Surgery (thoraco-abdominal, limb, burns)
• Neurological injury
• Ward care
• Rehabilitation
• Psychosocial support
• Ethics and safeguarding

The Manual is also intended for use by anyone who is required to plan for the treatment of severely injured children, so they can see the resources, training and equipment that is required in a medical facility likely to receive blast injured children.

This guidance has been developed as a tool to reach the goal that all EU-funded humanitarian partners be required to take the needs of persons with disabilities into account in their projects.

It concentrates on mainstreaming the needs of persons with disabilities across all types of humanitarian interventions, hence not dealing with targeted actions specifically. As such, this guidance is a complementary tool to existing Thematic Policies, in particular to Thematic Policy n°8 on Humanitarian Protection

The guidance consists of three main parts. Part II presents disability mainstreaming in programming in detail and provides a series of concrete examples and illustrations. It also provides tools to collect data and measure disability inclusion. Part III of the guidance is a short document that that can be easily used in the field for either programming or monitoring.

From 2013 to 2017, the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases (“Uniting”) partnership has produced an annual scorecard and report to celebrate progress and highlight the principal challenges. The Uniting partnership reviewed the scorecard approach in 2017. The initial scoring process was associated with several challenges in terms of inconsistent indicators across diseases and the number of subjective judgements required to arrive at a final score. The scorecard review resulted in a transition from a scoring approach to a collaborative assessment of progress, gaps and priorities, and identification of areas for collective action. Two new tools replaced the scorecard: the Action Framework and the Impact Dashboard. The Action Framework is a standardized gap analysis tool. It uses qualitative input from stakeholders across the NTD community and fosters dialogue and collective action among a broad set of stakeholders. The Impact Dashboards display quantitative data sourced from WHO and pharmaceutical companies, with standardized indicators across the PC and IDM diseases, to provide a high-level view of impact and gaps at the global level. 

Access to assistive products (AP) is an under-researched public health issue. Using an adaptation of a draft World Health Organization tool—the ‘Assistive Technology Assessment—Needs (ATA-N)’ for measuring unmet needs and use of AP, we aimed to understand characteristics of AP users, self-reported needs and unmet needs for AP, and current access patterns in Bangladesh. The ATA-N was incorporated in a Rapid Assessment of Disability (RAD), a population-based survey to estimate prevalence and correlates of disability. In each of two unions of Kurigram and Narsingdi districts, 60 clusters of 50 people each aged two years and older were selected using a two-staged cluster random sampling process, of whom, 4250 (59% Female; 41% Male) were adults, including 333 using AP. We estimate 7.1% of the studied population used any AP. AP use is positively associated with age and self-reported functional difficulty. The proportion of people using AP is higher for mobility than for sensory and cognitive difficulties. Of all people with any functional difficulty, 71% self-reported an unmet need for AP. Most products were home or self-made, at low cost, but provided benefits. Needs and unmet needs for AP are high, especially for people with greater functional difficulties. Assessing unmet needs for AP revealed important barriers to scale that can inform policy and practice.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(12), 2901;
doi:10.3390/ijerph15122901

The UK Department for International Development (DFID)'s vision is a world where all people with disabilities, women, men, girls and boys, in all stages of their lives, are engaged, empowered and able to exercise and enjoy their rights on an equal basis with others, contributing to poverty reduction, peace and stability. A world where no-one is left behind.

Over the next five years DFID will prioritise four strategic pillars for action: (i) inclusive education, (ii) social protection, (iii) economic empowerment, and (iv) humanitarian action. To complement this focus DFID are adopting three cross-cutting areas, vital to disability inclusion, which will be consistently and systematically addressed in all of their work: (v) tackling stigma and discrimination; (vi) empowering girls and women with disabilities; and (vii) access to appropriate assistive technology.

DFID have introduced a new set of standards for all DFID business units to meet. The standards require all country offices and departments to; review their leadership and culture, engage with people with disabilities, influence others, adapt programming and improve data and evidence.

These case studies complement the 2018 Development Co-operation Report: Joining forces to leave no one behind. Case study contributors share knowledge and lessons on what it takes to answer the pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind through national and sub-national policies, strategies and programmes as well as international development co-operation projects, programmes and partnerships.

Chapters include:

• Spurring UNDP action on disability-inclusive development
• Success factors for integrating people with disabilities in Lebanese society
• Addressing gender‑based violence and supporting sexual and reproductive health and rights for persons with disabilities
• Helping blind children and young people to become valued adults and citizens in Guinea-Bissau
• Joining forces to fight stigma against people with albinism in Mali

This publication explores the challenges of disability-inclusive education systems and provides practical support suggestions that can better meet both the general and specific learning needs of all children, including those with disabilities. It recognises that inclusive education is a complex process and aims to help governmental and non-governmental actors to navigate the most suitable pathways to change.

Topics include: Individual and systemic approaches; non-negotiable commitments; collaboration; long-term process; understanding and awareness; stakeholder empowerment and engagement; Innovation: accessibility and reasonable accommodation; Innovation: teachers and teacher education; Innovation: transition and lifelong learning; and organising inclusive education systems

15 case studies are provided

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Minimum standards for protection, gender and inclusion in emergencies (2018) is in its second edition. The first pilot version of the IFRC Minimum standard commitments to gender and diversity in emergency programming was published in 2015. The pilot version has been tested globally by Red Cross and Red Crescent staff, volunteers and management in low-, medium- and high-scale disasters and humanitarian crises. This edition is the result of three years of testing, revision and feedback from protection, gender and inclusion (PGI) and sectoral specialists. New chapters, such as cash-based interventions, have been added as well as a stronger focus on sexual and gender-based violence and disability inclusion to align with the commitments of the IFRC and its member National Societies. This edition is accompanied by the IFRC Protection, gender and inclusion in emergencies toolkit (2018–2019).

This guidance presents Red Cross and Red Crescent staff, members and volunteers with a set of minimum standards for protection, gender and inclusion (PGI) in emergencies. It aims to ensure that the emergency programming of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and National Societies provides dignity, access, participation and safety for all people affected by disasters and crises.

It provides practical guidance on how to mainstream these four principles in all sectors, based on a consideration of gender, age, disability and other diversity factors. This includes limiting people’s exposure to the risks of violence and abuse and ensuring that emergency programmes “do no harm”.

The standards address protection, gender and inclusion concerns by providing practical ways to engage with all members of the community, respond to their differing needs and draw on their capacities in the most non-discriminatory and effective way. This helps to ensure that local perspectives guide assistance delivery. The standards also support incorporation of the seven Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

During armed conflict, children with disabilities are caught in a vicious cycle of violence, social polarization, deteriorating services and deepening poverty. Global estimates suggest there are between 93 million and 150 million children with disabilities under the age of 15.Given that disability is often not reported due to stigma there is reason to believe actual prevalence could be much higher. Although efforts to ensure the fulfilment of their rights have improved, girls and boys with disabilities continue to remain among the most marginalized and excluded segment of the population. This is amplified during situations of armed conflict. The barriers to full participation they face on a day-to-day basis are intensified and compounded when infrastructure is destroyed, and services and systems are compromised and made inaccessible. This results in the further exclusion and marginalization of children with disabilities, and prevents them from accessing schooling, health and psychosocial support, or a means of escape from conflict.

When systems and services break down, children are also left more susceptible to violence. Injuries sustained by many children during armed conflict may also lead to long-term impairments. There are six grave violations of children’s rights and protection in armed conflict that are on the agenda of the United Nations (UN) Security Council; killing and maiming, recruitment and use of children, rape or other sexual violence, abduction, attacks on schools or hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access. Governments around the world have committed themselves to respect, promote, and fulfil the rights of children with disabilities, including in situations of armed conflict, and progress is being made. Efforts by a broad range of actors to implement the CRPD, CRC and other human rights instruments include the development of standards to address the rights and needs of persons with disabilities in humanitarian crises, and guidance on making humanitarian response, development and peacebuilding more inclusive. Efforts to improve the collection and use of data concerning children and adults with disabilities are also underway. Yet, as this discussion paper makes clear, much more needs to be done. Investments in disability-inclusive humanitarian action and recovery from crises will pay off, contributing towards a dividend of peace built on greater equality, tolerance and justice.