Journal of Novel Physiotherapies
Open Access

Abstract

The public health community has traditionally paid little attention to the health needs of people with disabilities. Disability and public health have historically been separated by their focuses and definitions. Recently, however, government and international organizations mark a shift toward engaging in the health concerns of people with disabilities. Encouraging trends that consider the health of people with disabilities as a priority are emerging in public health. For example, the World Health Organization published the international classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health, a companion to the International Classification of Diseases. Second, a vision for the future of public health and disability is outlined in Healthy People and health plan, which includes people with disabilities as a target population. So, How can health systems address the health inequalities experienced by people with disabilities? Governments can improve health outcomes for people with disabilities by improving access to quality, affordable health care services. I would like to suggest the following. The first one is on reforming policy and legislation. The second one is to address barriers to service delivery. Third, we should do something about to address human resource barriers. The last one is about data and research. Evidence leads to better decisions and better health outcomes. The Korea National Rehabilitation Center is performing the health management research project The first part of the project is developing a disability monitoring system. The second part is the analysis of disease patterns of people with disabilities. The last one is developing health promotion programs for them. From the lessons we have learned, we identify the following recommendations for future projects, First, we need to establish monitoring and evaluation systems to assess interventions and long-term health outcomes for people with disabilities. And we have to provide evidence-based scientific data to be used for improving the health of people with disabilities. Then we need to reinforce health care policy & system for people with disabilities according to the disability characteristics, and empower people with disabilities to maximize their health. Also we need to explore the options for use of communication and information technologies for improving services, health care capacity, and information access to people with disabilities. Most of all, the comprehensive health management system consisting of community-based primary care, rehabilitation services, health promotion.

Biography

Seung Hee Ho is a Director, Dept. of Rehabilitation Standard & Policy, NRC. Seung Hee Ho, Ph.D., is Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Standard and Policy, National Rehabilitation Research Institute. Her research interests at NRRI include the development of rehabilitation programs, health promotion interventions for people with disabilities, and development of functional assessment tools & patient classification systems. She is a member of the health committee, of RI(Rehabilitation International) Korea.Until 2008, she was a research assistant professor, at the department of health informatics, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Rep of Korea, researching the knowledge-based system, data mining application in healthcare
Email:hsh7@korea.kr