Disability-preventing Care

In 2019, you gave 314,821 children and families disability preventing care through medical treatment, eye screening, medicines, HIV education, hygiene education and access to clean water.

Together with you, we gave 14,268 more people access to safe, clean, ability-protecting water through 9 wells and 22 capped springs.

Enabling Medical Treatment

Together with you, in 2019, we gave 200,729 children – with conditions like clubfoot, cleft lip/palate, birth malformations and severe burns – enabling medical care through orthopedic surgery, casting, physiotherapy, braces and other assistive devices.

Our medical partners conducted 24,736 pediatric medical consultations. (48% more consultations than in 2018 – 16,665)

Rehabilitation Plans

You gave 20,482 children with long-term disabilities – like cerebral palsy, developmental delays, post-injection paralysis – life-changing custom rehabilitation plans that included physiotherapy, occupational therapy, assistive devices like custom wheelchairs, stationary support chairs, standing support frames, parallel bars, home-based instruction and peer-to-peer support groups for caregivers. 

You allowed us to send more than 9,500 assistive devices like walkers, wheelchairs and crutches. And you provided our optical partners with more than 27,000 pairs of reading glasses and other optical aids.

Livelihood Support

Canadians like you helped 6,733 families with livelihood support – agricultural inputs like fertilizer, seeds, crop diversification training; livestock and husbandry training to start a small business; loans; equipment; financial literacy and business planning support. This is a specific area of increased focus for our programs.

Medical Care for Caregivers/Family Members

When we keep parents and grandparents healthy and prevent needless long-term impairment, the whole family benefits. To that end, you allowed us to give 4,265 adults eye surgeries in 2019. 369 women received surgery for Obstetric Fistula.

As we focus increasingly on direct service to children, we plan to slowly reduce the number of adult medical interventions we fund.

School Clubs for Healthy Eyes

With your support, we laid the groundwork for 13 school clubs in Amhara, Ethiopia. Once up and running, these clubs will teach more than 11,700 kids about the importance of clean water, hand and face washing, as well as water conservation techniques. These students will then take this learning back to their families and communities, multiplying the sight-saving impact of this training, in a highly trachoma endemic region of the world.

Safe, Accessible School Latrines

6,588 students were given access to safe, accessible school latrines in 2019. We know that there’s a link between school attendance for children with impairments and accessible latrines. We also know that poor hygiene is a significant cause of needless disability. Safe, accessible school latrines are a priority, to ensure children with disabilities are not left behind.

Inclusive Education and Play

In 2019, you gave 3,121 children access to school and play. Together with our partners and funded by Canadians, we developed special education plans for 1,328 children with special needs. And 1,793 children socialized with their peers in play, sport and other community activities.

Peer-to-Peer Support Groups

Thanks to you, 3,811 parents and children attended our peer support groups, where they learned nutrition tips and information about causes of disability. They also learned physiotherapy exercises and daily living skills for their children and received inspiration from other parents whose children are further along in rehabilitation.

Number of parent training sessions was reduced compared to previous year as two key partners managed leadership changes and reviewed strategic priorities. We expect numbers to be down again in 2020, as a result of COVID-19 and the restrictions on gatherings and group trainings.

Community Education

In 2019, we were able to give 11,796 community members, government health workers, teachers, medical staff training on disability inclusion and sensitization about the issues facing children with impairments.

Client Surveys

Together with your support, we conducted 94 client surveys in 4 countries to learn about our clients’ key success factors and their main barriers to health, education, confidence and healthy relationships. Children, youth and their caregivers told us about their challenges with appearance/body image, future aspirations, their ability to develop friendships and their ability to participate in their families and communities.

The survey revealed that children and youth with disabilities were less positive about their physical appearance/body image in comparison to other children. Further, children and youth with disabilities who did not perceive improvement in their physical functioning often had difficulties envisioning a bright future. As well, children and youth with disabilities often had challenges developing relationships with their peers, including negative attitudes from peers, and challenges with social competency skills associated with some types of disabilities (e.g., intellectual disability, and autism). The survey findings also revealed that while families often assigned developmentally appropriate tasks to children and youth with disabilities, families often excluded children and youth from family visits, community participation, and school enrollment due to fear of negative social attitudes.

Resiliency Curriculum

Resiliency is the ability to overcome adversity. Most of the children and youth we work with have lived with adversity all their lives – deep poverty, pain, stigma, discrimination. Recent research supports the concept that resiliency isn’t an inborn personality trait, but a learned skill. With your support, we are developing a home and school-based curriculum to develop resiliency skills in our young clients. Learning modules will specifically address the issues and barriers that our young clients told us about through our surveys.

A growing body of research highlights that resiliency strongly relates to positive childhood development outcomes (e.g., improved academics, behaviour, psychological wellbeing and future prospects) that are critical to flourishing in adulthood.