Presentation of the pilot project in Bhopal, including methodology, results and useful lessons in the SDG context. Presented by Archana Bhambal (Area Director of Sightsavers, India) at the Vision 2020 12th Annual Conference in Pune, India, 4-5 June 2016. This presentation won the first prize in its track.

1. 1Everybody Counts
Everybody Counts
Learnings from data disaggregated by
disabilities (DDD) pilot project
Archana Bhambal

2. 2Everybody Counts
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• Our vision is of a world where no
one is blind from avoidable causes
and where visually impaired
people participate equally in
society.
• We are an international
organization working with partners
in developing countries to
eliminate avoidable blindness and
promote equality of opportunity
for disabled people
Sightsavers Vision and Mission

3. 3Everybody Counts
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Why Disability Disaggregation Data
• WHO Global Action Plan 2014- 2019 talks about Universal Eye Health
‘A world in which nobody is needlessly visually impaired, where those
with unavoidable vision loss can achieve their full potential, and
where there is universal access to comprehensive eye care services’
• MDGs talked about ’universal’
Universal is incomplete without the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities
(PWDs)
• For SDGs – DDD is essential requirement for all development
Programme

4. 4Everybody Counts
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Disability Disaggregation Pilot Project
Project Objectives:
• To understand whether people with disabilities are accessing our
services
• To build the evidence base on how to disaggregate routine data by
disability and share with others
• To ultimately make Sightsavers projects more inclusive of people with
disabilities.

5. 5Everybody Counts
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Pilot Projects
• New eye health programme
• Urban slums (Hospital and Vision
Centre)
• Partners: local community
development organisation and an
eye hospital
• India Census 2011: 2.1% prevalence
of disability in MP (Q: ‘is X
disabled?’)
• Legal definition (medical
certification)
• Translate WG in to Hindi
• Electronic tool (HMIS)

6. 6Everybody Counts
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Washington Group
Introductory phrase: The next questions ask about difficulties you may have doing certain
activities because of a HEALTH PROBLEM.
1. Do you have difficulty seeing, even if wearing glasses?
2. Do you have difficulty hearing, even if using a hearing aid?
3. Do you have difficulty walking or climbing steps?
4. Do you have difficulty remembering or concentrating?
5. Do you have difficulty (with self-care such as) washing all over or dressing?
6. Using your usual (customary) language, do you have difficulty communicating, for
example understanding or being understood?
Response categories:
a. No – no difficulty; b. Yes – some difficulty;
c. Yes – a lot of difficulty and d. Cannot do at all
The recommended Washington Group cut off
is at least 1 c or d

7. 7Everybody Counts
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Patient exit interviews
Daily diary of data collectors
Spot checks
•Key actors and
decision makers
on disability
Sensitisation
•Washington
Group (WG)
questionnaire
translated into
Hindi
Tool finalisation
•On WG
questionnaire
and data
collection
Staff training
•Quality control
and process
monitoring
Data Collection
•Integration in
MIS and use for
planning
Inclusive Eye
Health
programmes
Analysis
Gather evidence about process and experiences of stakeholders
Process

8. 8Everybody Counts
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• Data collected on over 20,000 patients above age of 18
years in India; 51.9 percent were females
0.84%
8.5%
16.7%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
when we ask them directly if they are
disabled (as in the nationl census)
when we exclude slight domain
Project clients reporting severe or
completely limiting difficulties in atleast
one domain
Results

9. 9Everybody Counts
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Useful lessons in SDG context
• Sensitisation and training ensure buy-in of the stakeholders
• Different definitions of disability will give different results– comparability of
the data will be key.
• There is no single approach to data collection, it needs to be adapted to each
context.
• Integrate the questionnaire into existing practices to improve efficiency and
reduce workload and cost.
• Train people on how to analyse the data so they can use it for planning and
decision making – ownership.
• Developing a clear advocacy plan at the outset to make use of the data,
engaging policymakers.

10. 10Everybody Counts
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Further information:
http://www.sightsavers.org/everybodycounts/
abhambal@sightsavers.org
pthivillier@sightsavers.org
Thank you!