Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM
Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM
Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM
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promot<strong>in</strong>g awareness regard<strong>in</strong>g a balanced diet and other daily practices to improve health. In brief, priorityfocus should be placed on prevention rather than cure, us<strong>in</strong>g a multidiscipl<strong>in</strong>ary approach that <strong>in</strong>cludes localleaders and other communication tools such as radio broadcast.Persons with disability are currently spend<strong>in</strong>g more for their health and us<strong>in</strong>g the health facilities more thannon-disabled. Nevertheless, they face more constra<strong>in</strong>ts and difficulties <strong>in</strong> benefit<strong>in</strong>g from a better health.Ensur<strong>in</strong>g access to health services is a priority. A major issue is to address barriers to access public healthservices such as distance to health facilities and cost. For people with reduced mobility, assistive devices –standardised, well-made, well-fitt<strong>in</strong>g, us<strong>in</strong>g local materials whenever possible and repairable locally – shouldbe made available countrywide. Availability of generic drugs at the lowest possible price is also a challenge.The development of vacc<strong>in</strong>ation programmes is another challenge. In order to follow-up with the <strong>in</strong>clusion ofpersons with disability <strong>in</strong> the health system, and particularly at the level of the BPHS, they should be trackedthrough the MoPH <strong>in</strong>formation management systems.The current efforts of different decision makers to send children to school are not reach<strong>in</strong>g persons withdisability equally. The proportion of non-disabled children access<strong>in</strong>g public schools is almost two timeshigher than the proportion of children with disability. Another major challenge is access to school for girls,and especially girls with disability. The current deterioration of the security situation might become a stepbackward <strong>in</strong> the access to school for girls <strong>in</strong> parts of the country. An important way to strongly support<strong>in</strong>clusive education is to make schools accessible to children with disability and change legislation <strong>in</strong> order to<strong>in</strong>clude children with all types of disability, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the most severely disabled, <strong>in</strong> schools for the compulsoryeducation period. Responsibility for the education of children with disability will be placed upon the MoEalong with a coord<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g body to be created. A major issue is awareness – to conv<strong>in</strong>ce teachers and bothfamilies of children with disability and parents of other children of the relevance of <strong>in</strong>clusive education.Because <strong>in</strong>tegration of children with disability <strong>in</strong>to the general educational system requires plann<strong>in</strong>g by allparties concerned, the coord<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g body will ensure effective coord<strong>in</strong>ation work of all stakeholders, fromconception of the law to tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g of teachers, awareness of community and design<strong>in</strong>g of build<strong>in</strong>gs.Empowerment: Decisions Taken by Persons with DisabilityPersons with disability have not yet succeeded <strong>in</strong> hav<strong>in</strong>g their voices heard, except for war survivors whoare the only persons with disability enjoy<strong>in</strong>g real prestige <strong>in</strong> Afghan society due to their status as formerMujahid<strong>in</strong>. The capability approach applied to disability offers a perspective of empower<strong>in</strong>g all persons withdisability by provid<strong>in</strong>g a framework aim<strong>in</strong>g at equal entitlements for persons with disability and non-disabledpersons. The well-be<strong>in</strong>g and subsequent freedom of persons with disability depends on their capacity toexpress their needs and benefit from opportunities offered by a welcom<strong>in</strong>g and <strong>in</strong>clusive environment. Publicpolicies must ensure their capacity to fully participate <strong>in</strong> social life.Gather<strong>in</strong>g ofknowledgeon livelihood,beliefs, needsand expectationsof persons withdisability is away of fuell<strong>in</strong>g anational disabilitystrategy based onsuch pr<strong>in</strong>ciples asempowerment andma<strong>in</strong>stream<strong>in</strong>gMa<strong>in</strong>stream<strong>in</strong>g: Inclusion and Accountability?Gather<strong>in</strong>g of knowledge on livelihood, beliefs, needs and expectations of persons with disability is a way offuell<strong>in</strong>g a national disability strategy based on such pr<strong>in</strong>ciples as empowerment and ma<strong>in</strong>stream<strong>in</strong>g. Thisview, which has been put forward by a number of disabled persons’ organisations, tends to look at the barriersthat exist with<strong>in</strong> the social context and that prevent a person from achiev<strong>in</strong>g the same level of function<strong>in</strong>g asthat of a non-disabled person. In this perspective it is society that needs to be redesigned <strong>in</strong> order to take <strong>in</strong>toaccount the disabled persons’ needs. Ma<strong>in</strong>stream<strong>in</strong>g persons with Disability is a progressive way of reshap<strong>in</strong>gsociety <strong>in</strong> order to better <strong>in</strong>clude them.Coord<strong>in</strong>ation of Action and Actors: Towards the Institution of aCoord<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g Body?The participants <strong>in</strong> the First National Landm<strong>in</strong>e Victim Assistance Workshop held <strong>in</strong> Kabul between 6th and8th August 2006 at the M<strong>in</strong>istry of Foreign Affairs enthusiastically advocate the creation of an <strong>in</strong>dependentcoord<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g body <strong>in</strong> charge of disability issues <strong>in</strong> <strong>Afghanistan</strong> with a strong representation of organisationsConclusion73