BOU MDMR program: Admission notice & short overview

 BANGLADESH OPEN UNIVERSITY

MDMR program: Admission notice & short overview

Bangladesh Open University

School of Science and Technology

Master of Disability Management and Rehabilitation (MDMR) Program

Background of this Program

The magnitude of disability globally is significant to merit special attention by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank. Persons with disabilities represent 10% to 20% of the world’s population depending on the definition of disability. There is a huge unmet need for basic health and rehabilitation services for the population with disabilities, both in developed and developing countries. There are undoubtedly countless avoidable deaths caused by lack of adequate rehabilitation services. Stroke is within the top six leading causes of death in all countries of the SAARC region, causing 9% of all deaths in Sri Lanka, and 7% in Bhutan, India and the Maldives. Road traffic accidents cause 2% of deaths in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal and WHO estimates that for every death caused by injury a further 10 people require hospitalisation. Countries of the South Asian region are considered by WHO to account for 25% of the world’s injuryrelated disabilities. Despite these incredible figures the rehabilitation services of SAARC member countries are extremely limited. Rehabilitation and disability services vary from country to country and are provided by a range of professionals including Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Physicians, Nurses, etc. trained at different levels. Access to education programs for rehabilitation professionals is also extremely limited. Now a day, it’s an alarming situation that the Government, NGO’s and other agencies are talking about disability and spending lots of money for disability supports but still there has no formal academic education specially for disability management and rehabilitation that leads scattered services where the professional could efficiently support to the disable population so its crying needs to build up these professionals who can provide proper support and services for disable population. Recognizing the multidisciplinary nature of disability management and rehabilitation, healthcare providers and rehabilitation professionals in countries such as Canada, UK, Australia and US, and some progressive organizations like CRP, Bangladesh, AIT- Thailand etc have adopted the multidisciplinary team approach in many aspects of rehabilitation care. There is a growing body of evidence and clinical practice guidelines promoting the efficacy of the multidisciplinary team in a number of areas of rehabilitation. Changing the way of health and rehabilitation providers’ education is the key to achieving the change in the system of rehabilitation service delivery globally. Focusing on individual clients, families and communities requires new training approaches. If health care providers are expected to work together and share expertise in a team environment, it is necessary that their education and training prepare them for this type of work.