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associated conditions.49 For instance, in most cultures women are compelled to respect and obey their husbands’ instructions including treatment options. Also, there may be role conflict as mothers are charged with the responsibility of caring for all their children and other family members making it difficult for them to meet up with their commitment to cater for a child a with developmental disability. These may pose barriers to the effective utilization of available healthcare services.49 WHO AND UN’s STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY Disability is a public health issue hence, nations should consider taking actions towards including disability as a priority in the health sector, develop and implement strategies to reduce challenges faced by persons with disabilities in accessing healthcare.45 This may include strategies to attain equity for people with disability such as improving access to effective health services and cross-sectorial public health interventions, such as good source of drinking water, proper sanitation and hygiene services, as well as maximum protection during disasters.50 Also, existing policies and services should be evaluated and put in place strategies to enable disability inclusion in the health sector establishing healthcare standards related to care of children with disabilities especially in resource poor settings and decrease health inequalities. In addition, services such as health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative health services should be made very affordable and accessible to all persons with disabilities. Furthermore, the environment of health facilities should be modified and adjusted to facilitate access by all persons with disabilities.13 For instance, modifying the physical layout of health facilities to provide effective access for people with mobility problems as well as ensuring their easy access to all public health information. Above all, healthcare providers should be empowered with the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the individual needs of persons with disabilities both in the hospital and community settings using evidence-based guidelines for assessment and treatment. All these strategies together with the inclusion of individuals with disability in healthcare surveillance could help achieve highest attainable standard of health for this special population.6 Below is presented WHO and UN’s strategies for decreasing the barriers and improving access to healthcare by persons with disability. In a bid to enhance access to health services for people with disabilities WHO does the following among others: • Intensifies awareness on disability matters, and encourages the inclusion of disability as a component in national health policies and programs among Member States. • Develop and implement normative tools and guidelines to strengthen healthcare for all including persons with disabilities. • Capacity building for health policymakers and service providers regarding provision of care, supporting and protecting the rights and dignity of persons with disability. • Facilitates the collection of disability-related data and information, and dissemination. • Encourages the implementation of strategies aimed at educating persons with disabilities about their own health conditions, health promotion and disease prevention activities. UNITED NATIONS DISABILITY INCLUSIVE STRATEGY In order to promote sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the work of the United Nations, the UN Secretary-General launched the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) in June 2019. This strategy compels all UN agencies to make sure that disability is constantly and systematically mainstreamed into all facets of work.22 WHO and UN are working to systematically integrate disability in all programmatic areas, including at the country-level. CONCLUSION The health needs of children with developmental disabilities particularly autism are not being met as required even though this special population are more likely to seek medical care due to their Review | Volume 8 | Number 1| 9 Pediatr Neonatal Nurs Open J. 2022; 8(1): 1-13. doi: 10.17140/PNNOJ-8-134 Eta VEA
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