Research indicates that people with disabilities, especially children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), are more vulnerable to gender-based discrimination and violence. As a result, they face negative health consequences and barriers to access rehabilitation services and treatment compliance. On June 4-5,  USAID’s I-Thrive project, which supports interdisciplinary rehabilitation for children with IDDs, provided a training on gender sensitivity and gender-based violence prevention in the context of rehabilitation services for 44 participants of the 12-month occupational therapy (OT) course at the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy. These participants were health staff from the rehabilitation departments of provincial hospitals and from district health centers in the four central provinces of Thua Thien-Hue, Danang, Quang Tri and Binh Dinh. Through the training, they learned about concepts of gender, gender equity, and gender-based violence; analysis of the risk factors for gender-based violence and sexual violence against people with disabilities, especially children with IDDs; the Circular 24/2017-BYT, a Vietnam Ministry of Health’s guideline on violence prevention and control in health facilities and the principles of gender-based violence screening; and screening procedures and a family questionnaire developed and applied by the I-Thrive project.

So what? USAID’s support to advance gender sensitivity and gender-based violence prevention in health facilities will help to improve rehabilitation services for people with disabilities in Vietnam.