Rehabilitation Psychology and Global Health

This chapter considers the role of rehabilitation psychology in the context of global health. It begins by reviewing the relationship between rehabilitation psychology and disability, public health, and global health. After describing the scale of the difficulties facing rehabilitation within the broader context of global health, the chapter explores the international aid and development "architecture"-the organizations and policies-that seek to assist people with disabilities in low-income countries. Given the scale of the demand and the resources available to address them, much of the rehabilitation psychology-related work undertaken has been at the level of policy, systems strengthening, and organizational development, rather than at the level of individual interventions. The chapter reviews work on improving access to health care and assistive technologies, how the human resources affect rehabilitation in low-income countries, and how advocacy and networking are being used to provide a stronger and more effective approach to address the challenges facing people with disabilities in low-income countries in general, and Africa in particular. Finally, the chapter considers how rehabilitation psychology can address content, process, and the context challenges of working in diverse global health contexts and suggests that closer collaboration with the emerging field of humanitarian work psychology may be fruitful.