Brig. Dr. Sunder Lal

Secretary General & Past President, Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine

 The authors, Dr. Kuldeep Deka and Dr. K. Vijaya Kumar, have extensively reviewed the burden of disablement and avoidable disabilities in India, constituting a significant public health concern as well as a challenging task. They have elaborated on the causes and consequences of avoidable disabilities. The text provides a rich and useful learning resource for rehabilitation personnel engaged in teaching, training, and research pursuits.

The material covered in 25 chapters, arranged in a logical sequence, is of high quality and relevant for outcome-based learning. It explicitly defines the objectives of learning and the expected outcomes while also encouraging self-directed learning through simple problem-solving exercises.

A unique feature of this book is its integration of curriculum and learning into the existing healthcare delivery systems in India. It emphasizes the community-based rehabilitation strategy, developed by WHO in 1980 and preferred worldwide, which moves away from cost-prohibitive institutional care for millions of disabled people. It elaborates that ultimately, family and community must be equipped with certain skills and knowledge to take care of differently abled people, besides self-care by the individuals themselves. The book highlights the prevention and mitigation of disabilities through comprehensive primary healthcare delivered by the Ayushman Arogya Mandir (erstwhile health and wellness centers), which deliver 12 packages of services/interventions covering the total life span/cycle. It strongly advocates the use of data on disabilities gathered by health and wellness teams; screening data on four Ds among children 0–18 years under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram; and databases from the community-based assessment checklist for noncommunicable diseases for planning and local action, supported by the built-in referral system of the District Early Intervention Center (DEIC).

I congratulate the authors on bringing out the first edition of this book and urge that it be continuously updated, based on feedback received from rehabilitation personnel. I hope that the book will be widely referred to and, most importantly, will facilitate academic excellence with social relevance.

From the Desk of CBS Publishers and Distributors

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About Brig. Dr. Sunder Lal

Dr Sunder Lal, MBBS, DPH, MD, FIAPSM is the Secretary General & Past President, Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine. He is also the Chief Editor of the Indian Journal of Community Medicine. Formerly, he was Professor & Head of Department, Community Medicine, PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana.