Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Disabilities and Injuries

Last updated on 11 March 2008

"Disabilities" may include blindness, deafness, the various conditions that make it difficult or impossible to walk or to speak, mental illnesses, Down's Syndrome and epilepsy. Disabled people are disadvantaged not by their impairments, but by attitudinal, social, cultural, economic, and environmental barriers to their participation in society.

Disability is a human rights issue with disabled people typically being among the very poorest in developing societies: they have fewer opportunities to escape poverty; are largely invisible, are ignored, and stigmatised. The poorest and most marginalised are disabled women, and disabled ethnic minorities. Poor people tend to live near areas that have been mined, are forced to use more risky means of transport, have more dangerous jobs and cannot access health care so that minor illnesses or injuries can become more permanent impairments.

There are an estimated 5.2 million injury deaths worldwide with over 90% occurring in developing countries. Major causes of injury deaths include road traffic injury (23%), self-inflicted injury (17%), interpersonal violence (11%), falls (8%) and drowning (7%). This accounts for 9% of global mortality. Follow the links below for resources on injury prevention, support for disabled and injured individuals, publications, guides and websites.


 

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