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10/09/2015  |   1:45 PM - 3:00 PM   |  Andrew Foster Auditorium

UN CRPD and the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals: A Fifteen-Year Global Action Plan and Advocacy for LMICs’ Hearing Systems Development

The 8th UN Conference of States Parties (COSP) on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (June 9-11, 2015) focused on the integration of disability in the UN Open Working Group (OWG) Zero Draft that finalizes the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—the blueprint for 2015-30 that follows the completion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The UN applied a consultative mechanism to determine the highest global action and financing priorities to ensure elimination of extreme poverty, including healthcare, education, and employment disparities. Despite the extant UN CRPD treaty that 154 nations have ratified, unanimous General Assembly 2013 resolution, and the Secretary General’s reports that urge infusion of disability rights and programs into the SDG goals and indicators, much concern emanates from coalitions and organizations representing persons with disability (DPOs) and respective advocates. Hearing healthcare and rehabilitation program and capacity building in developing countries may not receive the funding streams needed due to lack of explicit statements regarding the health care access needs of those with disability—a COSP position articulated with UN entities. The SDG goals serve as policy drivers that strongly influence the donor financing mechanisms due for articulation at the planned September 2015 meeting in Addis Ababa. Specific indicators in development align with each SDG and will serve to measure target outcomes. Hearing health care professionals have an advocacy role to play to ensure global policy development and implementation in a number of sectors that currently function in silos to the detriment of persons with disability—education, health, early childhood development, ICT accessibility, among others. Increased hearing care professionals’ advocacy participation and awareness will support the efforts of developing countries’ DPOs and governments committed to addressing CRPD’s human rights tenets ‘of, by and for’ persons with disabilities toward societal inclusion.

• To raise awareness of global international development policies and human rights treaties affecting persons with disabilities driving the 15-year UN Sustainable Development Goals development, financing, and outcomes metrics
• To stimulate hearing care professionals’ and stakeholders’ advocacy for interdisciplinary systems to support early identification, assessment and rehabilitation for children and adults with and at risk of hearing loss or deafness in LMICs
• Share regional south-to-south and north-to-south strategies for developing community-based and cross-border capacity building through formation of unique partnerships

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Evelyn Cherow (POC,Primary Presenter), GlobalPartnersUnited LLC, globalpartnersunited@gmail.com;
Evelyn Cherow is CEO/Founder of GlobalPartnersUnited LLC— a woman-owned, public-private social enterprise. GPU’s core mission is to apply 21st century ICT to 1) design, strengthen, and deploy quality, accessible, affordable, inclusive and networked health, education, and rehabilitation systems in developing countries, 2) train, mentor, sustain and scale appropriate workforce, and 3) integrate technology-centered job creation in telehealth systems design. Cherow is a Fellow of the ASHA, and has received recognition from AAA, Educational Audiology Association, and the American Auditory Society. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (2002), and an MA in audiology from Northwestern University. She serves on the American Public Health Association international health policy committee, UNICEF task forces, and is active in the International, mHealth and Telerehabilitation Special Interest Groups of the American Telemedicine Association. Cherow started her career as a pediatric audiologist in DC’s children’s hospital program for underserved populations,and was ASHA’s Director of Audiology Practice Policy (1981-2001), negotiating evidence-based consensus to derive best practices with 45 national and international subject expert panels; formed, led and participated in coalitions influencing US and international public policy. She was senior management for Gallaudet University’s national demonstration educational program, Executive Director creating National University’s virtual Institute for Deaf and HoH Persons (2003-06), and VP of a CA agency for children with disabilities. Cherow created over 85 distance and blended education programs to ensure dissemination of best practices, established a virtual audiology Community of Practice (CoPs), and engaged institutions and agencies for ‘twinning’ programs for sustainability, scaling, and quality assurance. She served as an advisor to bipartisan policymakers, U.S. federal agencies (the CDC, NIH, Education Department, SSA, OSHA, FDA), NGOs, development program directors, Ambassadors, and knowledge economy entrepreneurs (e.g., Belarus, Ethiopia, India, UK National Health Service, Sierra Leone, Jordan).