Would people with a disability in the highlands benefit from a community-based rehabilitation program?

Community-based rehabilitation for those people with a physical disability is a policy promoted by the World Health Organization. In order to assess whether such a program might be useful to the disabled people of the highlands of Papua New Guinea a survey was conducted which first identified those people with a severe physical disability and then investigated the degree that they were handicapped in terms of their social and physical environment. The survey was performed in the Tari area of the Southern Highlands Province in conjunction with the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR). By using the PNGIMR demographic surveillance system it was possible to calculate a prevalence level of physical disability (including walking disability, deafness and blindness) of 46 per 10,000 (0.46%). A significant physical disability was identified in 114 people, of whom 54 were given personal interviews to establish their quality of life. The survey found the social and economic situation of disabled people to be generally good although there is a lack of basic material aids for handicapped people. The disabled people and their families do not need extra knowledge about how to care for their disabilities and a formal community-based rehabilitation program would be inappropriate, but they would find mobility aids such as wheelchairs and artificial limbs of enormous help. The regular health care services are widely used although both people with a disability and health service staff are not always aware of the types of treatment which can usefully be provided.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)