• To train community health workers to collect data on disability
• To identify the proportion of mass drug administration (MDA) recipients who have disabilities
• To identify the proportion of people with disabilities receiving MDA
• To identify the types of disabilities affecting people who receive MDA
• To advocate for more accessibility for people with disabilities within MDA programmes and other related programmes based on data collected under this project

In recent years, Sightsavers has been looking at the intersection between its two main streams of work: health and disability inclusion. One of the areas of focus has been to understand how people with disabilities are included within health projects in Africa and Asia.

Since 2014, Sightsavers has conducted a number of pilot studies to understand how the Washington Group Short Set of Questions (WGSS) may be used in different settings to measure disability inclusion. This report describes a pilot undertaken in partnership within a neglected tropical disease (NTD) programme conducted in partnership with the Ghana National Health Service.

The overall aim of the pilot was to develop and test a way to capture data on disability within the onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis MDA data system. The project sought to understand how data may be collected in a system where community members were responsible for delivering interventions and collecting data on intervention uptake. It was anticipated that the pilot would help to refine the analysis of data, strengthen local health information management systems and improve programme quality not only in Ghana but in the West Africa region and beyond.

Read the report (PDF)
Ghana DDD pilot project – December 2018