Access to Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services for Refugees with Visual and Hearing Impairments and Disabilities in Azraq Refugee Camp Based on unmet needs among vulnerable refugee women, girls, boys, and men (WGBM) with impairments/disabilities in Azraq Camp, IOCC aims to provide increased and equitable access to healthcare and rehabilitation services for refugees with impairments/disabilities, reaching 1,268 WGBM.

In particular, IOCC will target 1,090 refugee WGBM with hearing and visual impairments/disabilities in Azraq to receive secondary healthcare and rehabilitation services through diagnostic services by medical professionals, provision of rehabilitative assistive devices, and/or specialized medical treatment (such as surgeries or medications). 

To address needs, IOCC will utilize a community-based approach that considers the specific vulnerabilities of persons with disabilities (PWDs) to implement the following activities by IOCC’s specialized disability staff, doctors/medical consultants, and volunteers:
- Select 8 refugees as community-based rehabilitation workers (CBRWs) to implement IOCC’s community-based rehabilitation approach and support activities
- Train CBRWs on community-based rehabilitation in partnership with local organization and disability training institution, Al Hussein Society (AHS) - Jordan Center for Training amp Inclusion, and provide disability in-service training led by IOCC specialists
- Provide diagnostic and rehabilitation services to refugee WGBM with visual impairments/disabilities and provide assistive devices (glasses) to 800 cases
- Provide diagnostic and rehabilitation services to refugee WGBM with hearing impairments/disabilities and provide assistive devices (hearing aids) to 25 cases
- Conduct check-up appointments via IOCC’s audiologist and/or optometrist with 200 refugee WGBM who previously received assistive devices and support repairs and maintenance of their devices, as well as provision of additional hearing aid batteries
- Coordinate consultations with an ophthalmologist through IOCC’s visual clinic (approximately three days per month) to conduct screening for those needing specialized services (including refugee WGBM who optometrists identified for specialist referrals) to address visual impairments/disabilities
- Provide specialized medication for 425 refugee WGBM with visual needs
- Facilitate surgeries (including transportation, logistics, and payment) for up to 65 refugee WGBM in need of specialized treatment [i.e. for cataracts, retinal detachment or pars plana vitrectomy, pterygium removal, squint (strabismus), or other types] at specialized hospitals in Amman with the ophthalmologist 
- Follow-up and provide post-operative care in the camp for refugee WGBM who undergo surgeries through the ophthalmologist
- Develop a “master sheet “(by the ophthalmologist) of refugees in need of specialized ophthalmological services and coordinate with UNHCR and other health actors to provide services and avoid duplication
- Increase community knowledge of disabilities through community awareness sessions for 120 refugee WGBM and 
- Hold recreational activities for 50 refugee WGBM in the camp, with and without disabilities, to raise community awareness on disabilities, project activities, and OCHA JHF support for International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

These activities will provide needed, specialized secondary healthcare for cases who require appointments with a specialist (ophthalmologist) and potentially surgery who have been waiting months or years, as well as to diagnostic services for disability cases on the camp’s waiting list.

Activities fit with the allocation’s health sector priorities, meet crucial identified needs in Azraq Camp, fill existing gaps for a particularly vulnerable population with specific needs, complement the work of other disability actors in Azraq, leverage IOCC’s other funding for disability programming in the camp and expand services, build the resilience of camp-based PWDs, and support sustainability of activities for this population.