A/HRC/40/32 protection, employment and education. 36 Effective coordination improves the functional outcomes and reduces the costs of rehabilitation services. It allows for a more effective and user-friendly referral system and enables persons with disabilities to receive the full scope of rehabilitation services that they need in a comprehensive manner. When several providers are involved, coordination also helps ensure the continuity of care. 37 55. States should establish a coordinated, efficient and user-friendly referral system that ensures that a person with disability can have timely access to high-quality services. In lowincome countries, community-based inclusive development has proven to be a successful strategy for bringing rehabilitation activities to communities and facilitating referrals to more specialized rehabilitation services. 38 Models relying on not-for-profit organizations and charities do not absolve the State from its obligation to ensure that rehabilitation services and assistive products are available and affordable. C. A multidisciplinary and trained rehabilitation workforce 56. The availability of personnel skilled in multiple rehabilitation disciplines is instrumental in providing high-quality rehabilitation services that fully meet the diverse requests of persons with disabilities. 39 The need for a multidisciplinary rehabilitation workforce is implicitly recognized in article 26 (1) of the Convention, under which rehabilitation services and programmes are required to be based on the multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths. 57. A skilled multidisciplinary workforce requires adequate training. Professional education at the university level is typically required to gain qualifications in specific disciplines such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, prosthetics and orthotics, psychology, and speech and language therapy. In addition, many countries have responded to the severe shortage of rehabilitation personnel and limited financial resources by introducing mid-level programmes that train multipurpose rehabilitation workers in a range of disciplines or profession-specific assistants that provide rehabilitation services under supervision. A third level of training that helps improve access to rehabilitation in rural areas is for community-based workers who can work at the intersection of health and social services to provide basic rehabilitation. 40 Training should be aimed at ensuring the human rights-based approach to rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, as described above, to reflect the elements discussed above to contribute to the implementation of the Convention. The inclusion of content on the social, political, cultural and economic factors that affect the health and quality of life of persons with disabilities can make the curriculum more relevant to the context in which rehabilitation personnel will work. 41 Training programmes should be accessible and inclusive to enable and encourage persons of disabilities to train as rehabilitation personnel. 58. In some countries, rehabilitation personnel are predominantly men. This can negatively affect access by women with disabilities to rehabilitation services. States should take specific measures to ensure better gender balance in the rehabilitation workforce, including by facilitating women’s access to training programmes and mainstreaming gender in employment policies. D. Funding mechanisms 59. States should develop funding mechanisms to ensure adequate access to affordable rehabilitation services for all persons with disabilities. This is usually achieved through a combination of various proven solutions such as public funding, health insurance, social 36 37 38 39 40 41 14 WHO, WHO Global Disability Action Plan 2014–2021, para. 41. WHO, World Report on Disability, p. 114. See www.who.int/disabilities/cbr/en. WHO, Rehabilitation in Health Systems, pp. 14–15. WHO, World Report on Disability, pp. 110–111. Ibid., p. 112.