Rehabilitation is a set of measures that assist an individual who experience, or are likely to experience, disability to achieve and maintain optimal functioning in interaction with their environments. It provides disabled people with the tools they need to attain independence and self-determination.
It encompasses a board spectrum of goals that includes the prevention of loss of function; slowing the rate of loss of function; improvement or restoration of function; compensation for loss of function; maintenance of current function.
Rehabilitation involves the identification of a person’s problems and needs, relating the problems to relevant factors of the person and the environment, defining rehabilitation goals, planning and implementing the measures and assessing the effects.
Educating people with disabilities is essential for developing knowledge and skills for improved care, management and decision-making. The availability of rehabilitation services varies within and between countries in the African Region. Affordability of health services and transportation are the two main reasons why people with disabilities do not receive needed rehabilitation.
Approximately 50% of people with disabilities are unable to afford care. People with disabilities were more than twice as likely to report inadequate health care provider skills, four times more likely to report being treated badly and nearly three times more likely to report being denied care.
The interventions being implemented are:
- Community based rehabilitation,
- Provision of orthopedic devices and mobility aids,
- Training and capacity development of rehabilitation personnel and orthopedic technicians, physiotherapists, etc.
- Policy development on disability and action plan on behalf of persons with disabilities, PwDs.
- Capacity building of Disabled People Organizations, and networks supporting the UN Convention on the rights of persons.