What has changed in CBR policies since you started working for CBM?
Interview with Mike Davies and Paul Caswell
Caswell: I started working in 1968 in Ghana and constructed the buildings for the project where Klaus Seyffer (CBM Headquarters, Bensheim) eventually became director. I started working for CBM in 1984. For 10 years, I worked in Niger, and from 1994 until today, I have been conducting CBR services in Nigeria. I am national coordinator for 32 projects in Nigeria. Education and rehabilitation are focus areas of CBR work in Nigeria. In the last 10 years, orthopaedic services and mental health programmes increased. In addition, we do audiology and very little speech therapy.
Davies: CBR policy changes and evolves continuously. In recent years, more emphasis has been placed on inclusive approaches and the social model of disability in development. Neuropsychiatric disorder is a major recent addition to the range of disabilities covered by CBR, with very promising initial results from such countries as Nigeria, India, East Timor, and the Philippines.
What are working conditions like, especially concerning government support for CBR services?
Caswell: Though there are some difficulties with governmental support, there are positive aspects to working in Nigeria. The population is very large, with a real need—50% are very poor. Many earn much less than a dollar a day. The programmes are being implemented by church partners, especially the Catholic Church.
Transport is no problem for patients; rather, there are mental barriers. Patients who are being identified for surgery fear coming, because they don’t know what will be done to them. Social conditions can be barriers to access the services, too; some worry about what to wear or what to eat.
Davies: In South-East Asia and the Pacific, government support for CBR work is erratic and sporadic. Disability is generally perceived as a very low priority to many national governments. More successful have been efforts to activate local governments, at district and municipal levels. The government of Thailand has recently endorsed CBR as the official method of solving disability-related problems, and CBM is the technical advisory resource for the implementation of this policy.
Read more: Interview - What are your goals with respect to CBR work and the Vision 2020 initiative?
Go back: What we do
Davies: CBR policy changes and evolves continuously. In recent years, more emphasis has been placed on inclusive approaches and the social model of disability in development. Neuropsychiatric disorder is a major recent addition to the range of disabilities covered by CBR, with very promising initial results from such countries as Nigeria, India, East Timor, and the Philippines.
What are working conditions like, especially concerning government support for CBR services?
Caswell: Though there are some difficulties with governmental support, there are positive aspects to working in Nigeria. The population is very large, with a real need—50% are very poor. Many earn much less than a dollar a day. The programmes are being implemented by church partners, especially the Catholic Church.
Transport is no problem for patients; rather, there are mental barriers. Patients who are being identified for surgery fear coming, because they don’t know what will be done to them. Social conditions can be barriers to access the services, too; some worry about what to wear or what to eat.
Davies: In South-East Asia and the Pacific, government support for CBR work is erratic and sporadic. Disability is generally perceived as a very low priority to many national governments. More successful have been efforts to activate local governments, at district and municipal levels. The government of Thailand has recently endorsed CBR as the official method of solving disability-related problems, and CBM is the technical advisory resource for the implementation of this policy.
Read more: Interview - What are your goals with respect to CBR work and the Vision 2020 initiative?
Go back: What we do
