Health systems strengthening through surgical and perioperative care pathways: a changing paradigm.

Global health has traditionally focused on the primary health development with disease-specific focus such as HIV, malaria and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). As such, surgery has traditionally been neglected in global health as investment in them is often expensive, relative to these other priorities. Therefore, efforts to improve surgical care have remained on the periphery of initiatives in health system strengthening.

Role and promise of health policy and systems research in integrating rehabilitation into the health systems.

Despite recognized need and reasonable demand, health systems and rehabilitation communities keep working in silos, independently with minimal recognition to the issues of those who require rehabilitation services. Consolidated effort by health systems and rehabilitation parties, recognizing the value, power and promise of each other, is a need of the hour to address this growing issue of public health importance. In this paper, the importance and the need for integration of rehabilitation into health system is emphasized.

Can we still ensure no one is left behind by 2030? Demonstrating the potential of the implementation of the WHO Functioning and Disability Disaggregation Tool (FDD11) in existing survey platforms for disaggregating SDG indicators by disability.

The world is approaching the sustainable development goals deadline, but many countries still do not produce the data required to track their indicators by disability. Integrating valid and relievable disability measurement tools into existing data platforms is key to ensuring that "no one is left behind." In this paper, we aim to demonstrate that it is possible to gather valid data on disability for disaggregation using the WHO Functioning and Disability Disaggregation Tool.

Integrating rehabilitation into health systems: A comparative study of nine middle-income countries using WHO's Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation (STARS).

Background And Objective: The need for rehabilitation is growing due to health and demographic trends, especially the rise of non-communicable diseases and the rapid ageing of the global population. However, the extent to which rehabilitation is integrated into health systems is mostly unclear. Our objective is to describe and compare the nature and extent of integration of rehabilitation within health systems across nine middle-income countries using available Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation (STARS) reports.

Health equity for persons with disabilities: a global scoping review on barriers and interventions in healthcare services.

Background: Persons with disabilities experience health inequities in terms of increased mortality, morbidity, and limitations in functioning when compared to the rest of the population. Many of the poor health outcomes experienced by persons with disabilities cannot be explained by the underlying health condition or impairment, but are health inequities driven by unfair societal and health system factors. A synthesis of the global evidence is needed to identify the factors that hinder equitable access to healthcare services for persons with disabilities, and the interventions to remove these barriers and promote disability inclusion.

Integrating competency analysis into national rehabilitation workforce evaluation: a case study.

Background: Establishing a workforce capable of meeting population needs is contingent on evaluation that can inform sound policy and planning. Health workforce evaluation has traditionally relied on health labour market analysis and workload estimations. To date, competency analysis has not been included in national health workforce evaluation, despite that fact that the findings may go far in guiding decisions around workforce composition, optimisation and education and training.

WHO Functioning and Disability Disaggregation (FDD11) tool: a reliable approach for disaggregating data by disability.

Background: There is a global scarcity of good quality disability data, which has contributed to a lack of political will to address the challenges that persons with disabilities face. The current paper proposes a way forward to overcome this gap by demonstrating the psychometric properties of the World Health Organization Functioning and Disability Disaggregation Tool (FDD11) - a brief disability disaggregation instrument that countries can use.

Results: The study demonstrated that FDD11 is a valid and reliable tool.

Toward Universal Eye Health Coverage-Key Outcomes of the World Health Organization Package of Eye Care Interventions: A Systematic Review.

Importance: Despite persistent inequalities in access to eye care services globally, guidance on a set of recommended, evidence-based eye care interventions to support country health care planning has not been available. To overcome this barrier, the World Health Organization (WHO) Package of Eye Care Interventions (PECI) has been developed.

Objective: To describe the key outcomes of the PECI development.

Promoting equity in health emergencies through health systems strengthening: lessons learned from disability inclusion in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discriminatory health systems and inequalities in service provision inevitably create barriers for certain populations in a health emergency. Persons with disabilities have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. They commonly experience three increased risks - of contracting the disease, of severe disease or death, and of new or worsening health conditions.

Framing rehabilitation through health policy and systems research: priorities for strengthening rehabilitation.

Background: Recent estimates report that 2.4 billion people with health conditions globally could benefit from rehabilitation. While the benefits of rehabilitation for individuals and society have been described in the literature, many individuals, especially in low- and middle-income countries do not have access to quality rehabilitation.

Pre-rehabilitation scores of functioning measured using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule in persons with nonspecific low back pain: a scoping review.

Knowledge of the pre-rehabilitation generic status of functioning in individuals with low back pain is necessary to understand the clinical utility of rehabilitation care. We conducted a scoping review to describe the pre-rehabilitation functioning status of persons with nonspecific low back pain using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS)-36 or WHODAS-12. We searched multiple databases from 2010 to 2021 for studies reporting pre-rehabilitation scores using WHODAS in persons with low back pain.

Measurement Properties and Minimal Important Change of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 in Persons With Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review.

Objective: To determine the measurement properties and minimal important change (MIC) of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) short (12 questions) and full (36 questions) versions in persons with nonspecific low back pain (LBP).

The WHO-ITU MyopiaEd Programme: A Digital Message Programme Targeting Education on Myopia and Its Prevention.

The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the World Health Organization - International Telecommunication Union MyopiaEd programme - a digital message programme targeting education on myopia and its prevention. The development of the MyopiaEd programme included 4 key steps: (1) Conceptualization and consultation with experts in the field of myopia, mHealth and health behavior change; (2) Creation of SMS message libraries and programme algorithm; (3) Review of the message libraries to ensure relevance to the target audience; and (4) Pre-testing amongst end-user groups to ensure that the design of the programme and the message content were understandable. After reviewing the available evidence and considering input of the experts, the aims, end users and key themes of the programme were finalized.

Demographic and environmental factors associated with disability in India, Laos, and Tajikistan: a population-based cross-sectional study.

Background: The number of people experiencing functional limitations due to health conditions (capacity) is expected to increase in low and middle-income countries as populations age and rates of non-communicable disease rise. This trend could raise the prevalence and levels of disability worldwide. Understanding the demographic and environmental factors associated with disability can inform the design of policy interventions to make societies more accessible and inclusive for all.

Generating comprehensive functioning and disability data worldwide: development process, data analyses strategy and reliability of the WHO and World Bank Model Disability Survey.

Background: Data on functioning and disability collected at population level is essential to complement mortality and morbidity, to estimate rehabilitation needs of countries and regions and to monitor the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The objective of this paper is to briefly report the development process of the WHO Model Disability Survey, its data analysis strategy as well as its reliability and ability to measure low to high levels of functioning and disability across countries.

Methods: The development process is described in detail, and a secondary analysis using Rasch methods is conducted to report reliability and targeting using data from eight national and two regional implementations of the survey.

How the World Health Organization developed the .

The World Health Organization is often called upon to develop global guidance; here is how a range of evidence and expertise was used to develop one such guide.

WHO Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation (STARS): Results of the Field Testing in Jordan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Solomon Islands, Laos, Haiti, and Guyana.

The WHO Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation (STARS) tool was developed by WHO to facilitate effective prioritization and strategic planning for rehabilitation in countries. The objective of this paper is to present the results of the fourth phase of its development, its field testing in seven countries focusing on its completeness, usefulness, accessibility and feasibility. Field testing occurred in Jordan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Solomon Islands, Laos, Haiti, and Guyana.

Measuring functional ability in healthy ageing: a nationwide cross-sectional survey in the Philippine older population.

Objectives: To analyse the empirical support of the functional ability concept in the healthy ageing framework developed by the WHO in a sample of the Philippine older population. According to this framework, environmental factors may enhance or hinder functional ability, which is the person's ability to do what they value, broadly represented by subjective well-being. Moreover, this network of relationships may be moderated by personal characteristics such as gender.

Disability and COVID-19: ensuring no one is left behind.

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Agenda calls for targeted attention to the needs and rights of the most vulnerable populations to ensure a life of dignity and human security for all. In this paper, we argue that persons with disabilities are in a disproportionately vulnerable situation in public health emergencies. By using the example of Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), we explain why that is and call for the systematic consideration of the needs and rights of persons with disabilities during the response to the outbreak and during the recovery phase.

Development of the WHO STARS: A Tool for the Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation.

Objective: To present the development process of the World Health Organization (WHO) Systematic Assessment of Rehabilitation Situation (STARS).

Design: A conceptualization phase to establish its objective and identify the content for comprehensively describing rehabilitation in countries, a second phase to draft, and a third phase to refine the tool. Reviews of existing health system assessment (HSA) tools used in other areas of health as well as expert consultations occurred.