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June Newsletter

Dear friends,

A lot of our work focusses on addressing health inequities for people with disabilities. Last month, we published two reviews in Lancet journals highlighting why this topic is so important, as the reviews showed that mortality rates are more than double for people with disabilities (one global and one LMICs reviews). We calculated that this inequity translates into a shocking 14-year life expectancy gap. Our companion paper laid out the groundwork for how to build disability-inclusive health systems which could help to tackle these inequities. The work was accompanied by an editorial in Lancet Public Health (Disability inclusivity: time to step up) and a podcast.

Many congratulations to Nat Scherer, who submitted his PhD thesis last month titled ‘the mental health and wellbeing of children with disabilities’. His thesis was based upon his work with colleagues in Gaza, exploring needs and developing guidelines for developing mental health services for children with hearing impairments. He also drew on his work documenting the neglect of people with learning disabilities in England and Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a scoping review of Mental health support for children and adolescents with hearing loss.

Congratulations also to our doctoral student Danae Rodriguez, whose findings are already influencing practice! As part of her research, she undertook a Disability-Inclusive Health System assessment in Chile, and the Ministry of Health has now officially announced the implementation of the top one priority resulting from her study: design a National Policy on Inclusive Health for People with Disabilities. They have started with regional consultations and social dialogs to complement the national assessment with local views and realities. They expect to finish the policy by the end of this year. Well done Danae!

We have three webinars/seminars this month, tackling diverse issues of health inequities, menstrual health and Ubuntu! More information below. 

Read on for more ICED news!

With best wishes,

Hannah and Tom

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PENDA is a major ICED project, funded by FCDO, aiming to increase evidence to support disability inclusive development. We will focus on developing people, knowledge and tools. We now have 11 evaluations up and running, across the PENDA programme, working with a wide range of partners. Find out more information from our website.

Last month, we started the fieldwork for the baseline of our new study in rural Uganda. It is an impact evaluation of a community-based participatory group intervention to improve access to healthcare for people with disabilities. The baseline study in Rwanda is going well, for the evaluation of interventions to support the needs of young children with developmental disabilities and their families. We have completed the endline of our interventions in Bangladesh (inclusive employment) and Uganda (inclusive poverty graduation programme), working with BIGD in Bangladesh, and hope to share the results soon! 

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Publications

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Papers this month from ICED!

• Smythe T, Ssemata AS, Slivesteri S, Mbazzi FB, Kuper H. Co- development of a training programme on disability for healthcare workers in Uganda. BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 May 16;24(1):632.
• Chen S, Zhang H, Gao M, Machado DB, Jin H, Scherer N, Sun W, Sha F, Smythe T, Ford TJ, Kuper H. Dose-Dependent Association Between Body Mass Index and Mental Health and Changes Over Time. JAMA Psychiatry. 2024 May 15:e240921.
• Chandy BR, Davey C, Oswald WE, Kaliappan SP, Aruldas K, Banks LM, Jasper S, Nagarajan G, Galagan S, Kennedy DS, Walson JL, Koshy B, Ajjampur SS, Kuper H. Prevalence of functional difficulty among school-aged children and effect on school enrolment in rural southern India: A cross-sectional analysis. Res Sq [Preprint]. 2024 Apr 22:rs.3.rs-4154190.
• Banks LM, Soukkhaphone B, Scherer N, Siengsounthone L, Carew MT, Shakespeare T, Chen S, Davey C, Goyal D, Zinke-Allmang A, Kuper H, Chanthakoumane K. Impact evaluation of a cash-plus programme for children with disabilities in the Xiengkhouang Province in Lao PDR: study protocol for a non-randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2024 May 13;14(5):e081536.
• Kuper H, Azizatunnisa' L, Gatta DR, Rotenberg S, Banks LM, Smythe T, Heydt P. Building disability-inclusive health systems. Lancet Public Health. 2024 May;9(5):e316-e325.
• Kuper H, Rotenberg S, Azizatunnisa' L, Banks LM, Smythe T. The association between disability and mortality: a mixed-methods study. Lancet Public Health. 2024 May;9(5):e306-e315. 
• Kuper H, Andiwijaya FR, Rotenberg S, Yip JLY. Principles for Service Delivery: Best Practices for Cervical Screening for Women with Disabilities. Int J Womens Health. 2024 Apr 18;16:679-692. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S428144.
• Smythe T, Kuper H. The association between disability and all-cause mortality in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta- analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2024 May;12(5):e756-e770.
• Rotenberg S, Chen S, Hanass-Hancock J, Davey C, Banks LM, Kuper H. HIV knowledge and access to testing for people with and without disabilities in low- and middle-income countries: evidence from 37 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. J Int AIDS Soc. 2024 Apr;27(4):e26239.
• Carew, M. T., Rotenberg, S., Chen, S., & Kuper, H. (2024). Counting who makes the grade: Updated estimates of the share of over-age for grade learners in sub-Saharan Africa using MICS6 data. International Journal of Educational Development, 107, 103035.
• Rotenberg S, Chen S, Hunt X, Smythe T, Kuper H. Are children with disabilities more likely to be malnourished than children without disabilities? Evidence from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys in 30 countries. BMJ Nut Prev Health 2024  

Blogs and comments:

Tracey Smythe also wrote the following two blogs:

• Children and adolescents with disabilities are an extremely diverse group, yet across the world they experience similar barriers when trying to access play and recreation—crucial elements of wellbeing and mental health:
• Why is healthcare leaving people with disabilities behind? 

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Upcoming Seminars and Events by LSHTM

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ICED webinars:

Event 5 June 2024: Closing the Disability Data Gap: What can we learn from Australia?

Professor Anne Kavanagh gave a talk about her work on improving the lives of people with disabilities and the availability of disability data in Australia.

The webinar is available to watch here.

About the speaker and seminar: Professor Anne Kavanagh is a social epidemiologist who is an international leader in health inequalities research.

‘Improving menstrual health - a silver bullet or a human rights crisis?’
Date: Wednesday 5th June
Time: 13:00-14:00
Location: LSHTM - Room LG24 and Zoom (https://lshtm.zoom.us/j/92813204389)

Menstrual health is a public health and human rights issue, and can affect multiple dimensions of health, education and well-being. In this seminar, LSHTM researchers will present findings from recent research evaluating strategies to improve menstrual health in schools in The Gambia, Tanzania and Uganda, among women & girls with intellectual disabilities in Vanuatu, and among women & healthcare workers in Zimbabwe.  

The webinar is open to all and will be chaired by Dr Emily Wilson (Founding CEO Irise International).  Speakers will include Jane Wilbur, Mandikudza Tembo, Belen Torondel, Kate Nelson and Kathy Thomas, from LSHTM.

Ubuntu hub webinar: How can I be a facilitator of change
Exploring how to support behaviour and attitude change
Date: Wednesday 12th June
Time: 13:00 - 14:00 BST
Zoom: TBC
Speaker: Rachel Lassman in a UK-trained Occupational Therapist with 25 years of clinical experience. She has been living and working in Uganda for over 10 years. She is a Research Assistant at LSHTM and Global Co-ordinator for Baby Ubuntu: early care and support for children with developmental disabilities.

You can find all our previous seminars (including the audio recordings and slides) here

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Other things of interest

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• Disability Studies conference, Leeds University, 3-5 September, 2024
• Run Free 2030: A Global Strategy to End Clubfoot Disability, launch on 3 June. They’re invite support through signing a statement, sharing on social media, participating in a launch webinar, and offering feedback on their strategy document, with broader opportunities for involvement in the movement outlined for the long term.
• CaNDER – Research Showcase on Inclusive Education – Friday 7^th June 2024, 10-4:45, Donald McIntyre Building, Cambridge. Register here
• BBC news article – Disability: Doctor assumed woman using wheelchair did not have sex

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Work Experience Programme at ICED

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We are currently not taking on new candidates however, you are welcome to complete an online application to register interest in interning with ICED. Please complete the application form. 

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Have you seen this?

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In other exciting news, Tom attended the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican in April, which was discussing disability. And he had an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis!

 

 

 

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Professor Anne Kavanagh: Improving the lives of people with disabilities and the availability of disability data in Australia

Professor Anne Kavanagh gave a talk about her work on improving the lives of people with disabilities and the availability of disability data in Australia.

The webinar is available to watch here.

About the speaker and seminar:

Professor Anne Kavanagh is a social epidemiologist who is an international leader in health inequalities research. She is the inaugural Chair of Disability and Health and Head of the Disability and Health Unit in the Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.

Data on disability is a persistent gap in health equity research. Few countries have systems that enable them to examine the health inequities of people with disabilities, yet recent initiatives in Australia are helping to uncover these overlooked health inequities.  Join the International Centre for Evidence in Disability as it hosts Professor Anne Kavanagh to discuss her work on improving the lives of people with disabilities and the availability of disability data in Australia. This session will be held in-person and online and is open to all individuals wishing to learn more about data and health inequities for people with disabilities. 

This film presents findings from a research project on Disability-Inclusion in Education and Employment in seven countries in Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda). The film was created with young people with disabilities from Uganda and Ghana who participated in the study.  

The research was conducted in partnership with ICED, Mastercard Foundation, the University of Abuja, the University of Ghana, Lifetime Consulting Ltd, Addis Ababa University, University of Nairobi, Global Advocacy and Research Group and MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Group. It was funded by Mastercard Foundation. 

Phase 1 study reports, on the policy landscape, are available here. Phase 2 reports, based on interviews with young people with disabilities in each country, will follow. A film, about the research findings, created with young people with disabilities who participated in the study can be seen here.

The  situation with COVID-19 is rapidly changing. We have gathered a list of resources about COVID-19 to share with caregivers, children & young people and education, health and social care practitioners to navigate the dynamic situation of the COVID-19 response, and the many impacts that it will have. We hope that they are helpful and we will continue to add new resources as they become available. 

• Information on how parent groups have been run post ‘lock-down’ in Rwanda
• Guidelines on what to consider to run groups safely in the context of COVID-19
• A range of free digital COVID-19 educational resources for children: download Axel Scheffler’s book, download a copy of Lydia Monk’s book
• Share your story and contribute to voices of people with disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak: voices
• LSHTM’s free online course for anyone who is interested to learn about what we know about COVID-19, and how we should respond to the outbreak
• A course that introduces COVID-19, created for teenagers and young adults
• Presentation from the International Centre for Evidence in Disability: making the response disability-inclusive
• Paper on what we can learn from a disability inclusive response

Working with parent groups – a training resource for facilitators and caregivers

These manuals (Getting to Know Cerebral Palsy, Juntos and ABAANA EIP) aim to increase knowledge and skills in caring for a child with developmental disabilities. Research highlighted the significant needs of the caregivers, and how they can gain a huge amount of support from meeting with each other in an understanding environment.

It promotes a participatory learning approach with an emphasis on working with groups and the empowerment of parents and caregivers.

Download the manual (in various languages)

“Before, my family and people in my community used to say ‘this child’s suffering is a result of parent’s sin’. After taking the training I have explained what causes cerebral palsy to others. Now, no-one says anything like this.” 
Parent, Sirajganj, Bangladesh

Download and use these animated videos from ICED on child developmental and developmental disability, with versions in English, Portuguese and Spanish. The first of these videos provides information on child development across different domains and considers how this process can be disrupted for some children. The second explores the challenges and barriers in the lives of people with a developmental disability, and how support strategies can help an individual better participate in their community. 

Please use these videos in your own teaching, support groups or in any other forum, appropriately acknowledging the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The videos are available in English, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish.

View the English videos below:

View the English videos with subtitles here:

• Child development video with English subtitles
• Developmental disability video with English subtitles

View the Portuguese (Brazil) videos with subtitles here:

• Child development video with Portuguese (Brazil) subtitles 
• Developmental disability video with Portuguese (Brazil) subtitles

View the Spanish videos with subtitles here:

• Child development video with Spanish subtitles 
• Developmental disability video with Spanish subtitles

Join a global community to share ideas, access the latest research, find solutions, meet new people and collaborate on innovative and exciting projects.

This annual publication promotes good ear and hearing health in low and middle-income countries.

It's a forum for exchanging ideas, experience and information that facilitate continuing education for all levels of health worker. It is delivered to almost 4,000 healthcare providers worldwide. Some issues have been translated into French and Spanish.

Read previous issues

• Issue No. 21 (2020) Ear and hearing care in the midst of a pandemic
• Issue No. 20 (2019) Noise-induced hearing loss
• Issue No. 19 (2018) Hearing aid systems in low-resource settings
• Issue No. 18 (2017) Focus: Ear and Hearing Health in Schools
• Issue No. 17 (2016) Common ear conditions underdiagnosed at primary level
• Version Française No. 3 (2021) Soins de l’oreille et de l’audition en temps de pandémie
• Version en Español No. 2 (2021) Cuidado del oído y la audición en media de una pandemia
• Version française No. 2 (2016) Sensibiliser la communauté à la santé de l’oreille et de l’audition
• Version en Español No. 1 (2016) Abordando los problemas de oído
• Version française No. 1 (2015) Lutter contre les affections de l’oreill et de l’audition au niveau primaire
• Issue No. 16 (2015) Testing small children’s hearing with little or no equipment
• Issue No. 15 (2014) Early detection of hearing loss in newborn and preschool children
• Issue No. 14 (2014) Living with hearing impairment
• Issue No. 13 (2013) Increasing community awareness of ear and hearing health
• Issue No. 12 (2012) Addressing ear and hearing problems at primary level
• Issue No. 11 (2011) Projects in the Philippines
• Issue No.10 (2010) Less noisy cities Issue No. 9 (2009) Noise: an ubiquitous pollutant
• Issue No.8 (2008) Tinnitus: a common and manageable complaint
• Issue No.7 (2008) Screening for hearing impairment
• Issue No.6 (2007) Chronic suppurative otitis media: a disease still waiting for solutions
• Issue No.5 (2007) Rehabilitation of the deaf and hard of hearing
• Issue No.4 (2006) Deafness caused by ototoxicity in developing countries
• Issue No.3 (2006) Congenital infections and hearing impairment
• Issue No.2 (2005) Current practice for ear syringing
• Issue No.1 (2004) Congenital deafness in developing countries

Read articles on ICED activity in the international press and on SciDev.net. Use disability resources from across the web.

Read press articles on our work

• Disability in the Global South Journal focusing on Disability and the SDGs, edited by Hannah Kuper and Shaun Grech. July 2017
• National Survey of Disability in Guatemala 2016 – Case Study, International Institute for Sustainable Development, June 2017
• Hannah Kuper discusses the exclusion of children with disabilities from education around the world – Al Jazeera News Hour (live), 18 August 2015
• Many disabled children in poorer countries left out of primary education – The Guardian, 18 August, 2015

SciDev.net columns

• February 2016: ‘Zika babies’ need support now
• January 2016: Kids at risk from El Niño
• December 2015: Monitor birth defects to save lives
• November 2015: Rethink healthcare for the ageing world
• October 2015: Defend girls’ sexual health rights
• September 2015: Reshape mental healthcare in crises
• August 2015: Give SDG monitoring some bite
• July 2015: Community care cuts NTD burden
• June 2015: Better data on disaster victims
• May 2015: A better way to find disabled kids
• April 2015: The next hurdle for Ebola survivors
• March 2015: Universal Health Coverage: Bearing the Brunt of Violence
• February 2015: Reaching Patients with Smartphones
• January 2015: Universal Health Care can happen
• December 2014: HIV and Disability November 2014: Ageing and Disability​​​​​​​

All files and contents in this folder are © LSHTM unless otherwise stated. You are welcome to reuse, adapt and share these files for non-commercial teaching and learning purposes without asking for permission. You must acknowledge the International Centre for Evidence in Disability, LSHTM as the original creator and provide a link to our website: www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres/international-centre-evidence-disability. We would also very much appreciate hearing how you are using the content, please let us know at disabilitycentre@lshtm.ac.uk.

Download full course

Full course ZIP (2GB) |ZIP (no videos) (182MB)

Download content from each week

• Week 1: Disability and its importance to the global development agenda
  ZIP (522MB)|ZIP (no videos) (9MB)
• Week 2: Health, wellbeing and disability
  ZIP (807MB)|ZIP (no videos) (19MB)
• Week 3: Access to health care and rehabilitation services
  ZIP (904MB)|ZIP (no videos) (154MB)

Download individual resources

Video: Welcome to the course

• Video (MP4 19.3MB)
• Transcript (PDF 86KB)

Week 1: Disability and its importance to the global development agenda

Video: Welcome to week 1

• Video (MP4 21.4MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 149KB)

Video & teaching slides: Why does disability matter globally?

• Video (MP4 74.9MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 80KB)
• Teaching slides (PDF 954KB)
• References (PDF 88KB)

Video:  Why does disability matter – Personal perspectives

• Video (MP4 92MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 76KB)

Article: Why does disability matter – individual case studies

• Step text (PDF 65KB)
• Teaching slides (PDF 502KB)

Article: Why does disability matter to International Development? Part 1

• Article (PDF 86KB)

Article: Nothing about us without us

• Article (PDF 122KB)
• References (PDF 188KB)
• Disability and the SDGs – How relevant is each SDG to disability? (PDF 632KB)

Video: What does disability mean – personal perspectives

• Video (MP4 58MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 72KB)

Video: Attitudes to disability

• Video (MP4 65MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 78KB)
• Teaching slides (PDF 734KB)

Video: What does disability mean – a framework

• Video (MP4 14MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 80KB)
• References (PDF 97KB)

Article: Measuring disability: Why would you want to and how do you do it?

• Article (PDF 164KB) 
• References (PDF 168KB)

Video: What is the relationship between impairments and disability?

• Video (MP4 110MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 82KB)
• Teaching slides (PDF)

Video: what are the common impairments related to disability?

• Video (MP4 42MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 81KB)
• Teaching slides (PDF 2MB)
• References (PDF 266KB)

Article: Why does impairment matter?

• Step text (PDF 244KB)
• Teaching slides (PDF 392KB)

Video: Summary of week 1

• Video (MP4 17MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 74KB)

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Video: Welcome to week 2

• Video (MP4 28MB)
• Step text and transcript (PDF 163KB)