Key terms

A health system
is composed of all organizations, people and actions whose primary interest is to promote, restore or maintain health.141 It focuses on ways to influence the factors that determine health and promotes activities that directly improve health. To this end, it delivers preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative interventions through State and non-State actors and services.142
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Diagram 10 Barriers to access and inclusion in health143

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Flow chart depicting how impacts of the crisis are exacerbated for persons with disabilities in health.

Impact of the crisis includes insecurity, breakdown of social networks, destruction of infrastructure, displacement, closure of services. These impacts are exacerbated by barriers in the response including:

Environmental barriers:

  • - Inaccessible health facilities
  • - Lack of accessible communication during consultations (diagnosis and treatment information) and in health promotion and prevention activities
  • - Inaccessible transportation and road infrastructure
  • - Informed consent procedures are not accessible
  • - Unavailability of mobility devices or other assistive devices and technology

Attitudinal barriers:

  • - Negative attitudes and discrimination against persons with disabilities by health workers
  • - Health workers' lack of awareness and knowledge about persons with disabilities and their requirements

Institutional barriers:

  • - Lack of technical capacity to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in health
  • - National health emergency risk management is not inclusive of persons with disabilities
  • - Existing health system and infrastructures do not address the specific health needs of persons with disabilities
  • - Lack of accountability in health system regarding referrals and disability-specific services
  • - Lack of disability data in Health Management Information Systems

The barriers in the response result in risk faced by persons with disabilities including violence, poverty, environmental hazards deterioration of health, exclusion, isolation.

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