JOIN USThe project sponsored by World Health Organisation will help to rehabilitate people with any kind of disability so that they can become a part of the mainstream society. The programme is taken up in association with district administration and will be inaugurated on May 17 at Udyavar.
Speaking to media persons, Department of Physiotherapy Professor Dr Kavitha Raja informed that Udyavar has been chosen as the pilot project because a survey conducted by a team of professionals from MCOAHS in 2009 found higher than national average rate of lifestyle diseases including stroke in the region.
“The other reason why we chose this place to start the project is because we were well received by the community and have since been providing services in form of a stroke clinic twice a week. This experience spurred us to initiate the present project,” she added.
The main objectives of the project are to create and increase awareness of preventable causes of disability, create awareness on how to include persons with disability in mainstream society, train local volunteers to identify and manage disabilities and to embed disability identification and management in the existing health care system.
MCOAHS Dean Dr Rajshekar said this project is one of the WHO grants for the community based rehabilitation (CBR) in India.
Some of the activities that will be undertaken during the six months include dissemination of information through pamphlets, electronic media and camps, an extensive survey to determine the disability profile of Udyavar and attitudes and awareness of disability related issues and training of local health workers and new volunteers, he added.