Community-based rehabilitation in Moshupa village, Botswana

This article presents a summary of findings from the 'Moshupa Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) project', which to date have been the subject of three studies: one initial survey of disabled people and two follow-up studies. Of the 132 disabled people who were identified in the survey, all but three could be accounted for in the first follow-up. Seventy-seven were interviewed about independence of activities of daily living, school/jobs and quality of life. A high percentage of elderly (17% were 65 and over) were alive, and most had maintained high levels of ADL skills. Twenty per cent of the adult disabled were working, 10 out of 14 school-aged children were enrolled in schools, and life satisfaction was high. The second follow-up study indicated that personnel, although acknowledging the benefits of the programme, pointed to several remaining problems such as lack of rehabilitation education for the personnel. The results are discussed with reference to the CBR programme's aims, and implications drawn for industrialized countries.