A new review concludes CBR is effective, improving the lives of people with disabilities and their carers in low- and middle-income countries. Around the world, over one billion people have mental and physical disabilities, and 80% of these live in low- and middle-income countries.
Community-based rehabilitation is endorsed by WHO and other international organizations (ILO, IDDC and others) as a way to help people with disabilities be included in society, especially in these countries.However, CBR is not widely-used, and its effectiveness and
cost-effectiveness needed to be evaluated. CBR, once proven as an effective aid, ought to be used more to help people with physical and
mental disabilities, and/or their family, their carers, and their community.
mental disabilities, and/or their family, their carers, and their community.
The review of 15 studies concludes CBR is effective in improving the health, functioning and quality of life for for people with disabilities and their carers in low- and middle-income countries. However, more study is needed and future studies should have a sufficiently large sample size, include children, have a broader focus than just on health (nearly all of the studies included here were on health), and should include economic evidence for cost-efficiency analysis.