WHO Country Office in Pakistan

Programme areas

Back


 Emergency Preparedness and Humanitarian Action

Disabilities and Rehabilitation

Crisis situations caused by natural disasters, man-made disasters (conflict and war) or complex emergency situations like mass displacements have an impact on disability, by disproportionately affecting persons with existing disabilities and by creating a new generation of persons with disabilities.

PWDs are one of the most vulnerable group in a crisis situation as seen in the current conflict situation in NWFP. According to the assessment conducted by WHO the commonest disability reported among the IDPs being the physical type of disability which represents 65% of the PWDs.

To date, more than 150 PWDs have been provided with assistive devices depending on their type of disability  and more than 20 wheel chairs have been distributed. The need is still huge  and resources are limited. An urgent emergency response is required to provide comprehensive rehabilitative services to the Persons With Disabilities residing in the IDP camps as well as in their respective areas of origin.  

Among the IDP population, the following were undertaken:

  • Assessment and assistance of Person With Disabilities (PWDs) among the IDP’s carried out

  • Assistive devices provided to 876 Persons With Disabilities in the IDP Camps in collaboration with Pakistan Institute of Orthotic and Prosthetic Sciences

  • Developed Innovative Project Proposal for Health Promotion approaches for mothers in the IDP camps to learn about health and to adopt healthy lifestyles.

  • Pilot testing for Innovative Health Promotion approaches for mothers in the IDP camps to learn about health and to adopt healthy lifestyles.

  • Developed IEC material for Health Promotion

Technical assistance activities for the CBR Programme were carried-out, including:

  • The first Mega Project in the history of Pakistan  regarding disabilities launched: combination of Community-based  and institution based rehabilitation (IBR)

  • 372 Community Rehab workers recruited from each union council of four earthquake affected districts

  • 60 Technical staff recruited and trained

  • 02 CBR Manuals for training of CRWs developed

  • 05 Training session each of 30 days imparted for the CRWs regarding CBR

  • 15 000 Persons With Disabilities  received Medical Rehab  services

The following guidelines and manuals on disabilities and rehabilitation were translated, reproduced and distributed:

  • Training manuals for the management of spinal Cord Injuries for health professionals (English & Urdu )

  • Training manuals for the patient, their families and the community regarding spinal injuries (English & Urdu )

  • Training manuals for Community Based Rehabilitation for speech, hearing, physical, visual impairments, and field supervisors (English and Urdu)

  • Community Based Rehabilitation Guidelines for Health, Education, Livelihood

  • Empowerment and Social Integration. ( English and Urdu)

  • Emergency Guidelines for Disabilities (English )

  • CBR Joint Position Paper  translated in Urdu  language

  • UN Convention for the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) translated in Urdu  language

  • The project proposal  for the Need Based Assessment Survey For Disabilities in the BDN Areas was also developed.