Browsing by Author "Byford, Julia"

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    Disability in the Middle Ramu, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea: perceptions, prevalence and the role of community based rehabilitation
    (2002) Veenstra, Nina; Byford, Julia; Ehrlich, Rodney
    [pg 1,2,15,16,18-32,37-41,44,45 missing] Worldwide, disability is a major public health problem and the socio-economic impact of disability puts disabled individuals at risk of being amongst the poorest in society. Many disabilities in developing countries are preventable. Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is a rehabilitation model promoted by the World Health Organisation for addressing the problems of disability in developing countries. However, for this model to be effective accurate information is required about the socio-economic and cultural context prior to implementation. The purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of disability in the remote Middle Ramu district, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. Baseline data concerning the prevalence and types of disability, biomedical and culturally perceived causes of disability, and help-seeking behaviour was collected. A two-phase village screening was done, first to identify and register disabled individuals for the study. Following this in-depth interviews were conducted with selected key informants. The purpose of these interviews was to determine the participation of disabled individuals in community life, as well as the impact of cultural attitudes and perceptions on their lives. The overall prevalence of disability in the area studied was calculated at 3.2%, using the two-phase screening method. A high proportion of disabilities were found to be due to trauma and accidents, while disabilities affecting hearing were frequently associated with illness or infection. The onset of disability was most commonly attributed to social or supernatural causes. Western medicine was widely accepted and utilised. Most disabled individuals were physically well rehabilitated, and there was little or no stigma associated with disability. However, disabled individuals and their families identified a range of outstanding needs. Analysis of these needs suggests that any future CBR program in the area should focus on disability prevention, the construction of mobility aids out of local resources, the provision of accurate information concerning disability, social support for caregivers, and income generation for families with a disabled individual.