WHO Resolution on Persons With Disabilities Omits Mention of CBR – Why You Should Care https://thewire.in/health/who-resolution-on-persons-with-disabilities-omits-mention-of-cbr-why-you-should-care
'Community-based rehabilitation' attempts to ensure that persons with disabilities can live the fullest lives possible with the participation of those around them, no matter where they live.
A new decision by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to move away from a policy it initiated over four decades ago has surprised disability rights activists, particularly those working in countries of the ‘Global South’.
“What the WHO is saying now is that we are a health organisation, [and] inclusion is not our mandate,” B. Venkatesh, founder-convenor of the Indian Forum for Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology and president of the CBR Global Network, told The Wire. “That’s why the entire focus in the recent literature coming out of Rehab 2030 is shifting towards increasing infrastructure, more primary health centres, etc.”
“The Rehab 2030 agenda may want to make health-service delivery the same in all countries, but that’s not going to happen without the political will, and not for many, many years,” Venkatesh said.
Instead, to reach the most marginalised people, he suggested investing in communities. “You have to increase the knowledge and skills of people in the community, to provide care wherever they are. There is no universal health coverage without CBR. There’s no other developed methodology available.”