Cover -- Title pg -- Preface -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Acknowledgements -- Contributors -- Contributors -- Editorial Committee -- Executive Editors -- Technical Editors -- Advisory Committee -- Contributors to individual chapters -- Peer reviewers -- Additional Contributors -- Ch 1 -- Figure 1.1 -- Understanding spinal cord injury -- Aim and scope of this report -- What is spinal cord injury? -- The medical dimension -- The historical dimension of spinal cord injury -- Spinal cord injury as a challenge to health systems and to society -- Tools for understanding the spinal cord injury experience -- Overview -- Ch 2 -- Table 2.1 -- Table 2.2 -- Table 2.3 -- Table 2.4 -- Figure 2.1 -- Figure 2.2 -- Figure 2.3 -- Figure 2.4 -- Figure 2.5 -- Figure 2.6 -- Figure 2.7 -- Figure 2.8 -- Figure 2.9 -- Figure 2.10 -- Figure 2.11 -- Table 2.5 -- Figure 2.12 -- Table 2.6 -- A global picture of spinal cord injury -- What do we know about spinal cord injury? -- Prevalence of spinal cord injury -- Incidence of spinal cord injury -- Traumatic spinal cord injury -- Non-traumatic spinal cord injury -- Spinal cord injury mortality and life expectancy -- Costs of spinal cord injury -- Data and evidence for spinal cord injury -- Data sources -- Information standards -- Data issues and concerns -- Definitions and standardization of data -- Underreporting -- Other issues -- Conclusion and recommendations -- Improve comparability by using international standards for data collection -- Improve national spinal cord injury statistics -- Encourage and improve spinal cord injury research -- Ch 3 -- Table 3.1 -- Figure 3.1 -- Table 3.2 -- Table 3.4 -- Table 3.5 -- Prevention of spinal cord injury -- Causes of traumatic spinal cord injury -- Road traffic crashes -- Falls -- Violence -- Causes of non-traumatic spinal cord injury.

Activities, places and circumstances associated with spinal cord injuries -- Occupational injuries -- Sport and recreation-related injuries -- Natural disasters -- Conclusion and recommendations -- Ch 4 -- Table 4.1 -- Health care and rehabilitation needs -- Understanding the health impact of spinal cord injury -- Potential complications -- Health care needs -- Pre-hospital and acute care -- Post-acute medical care and rehabilitation -- Assistive technology -- Health maintenance -- Conclusion and recommendations -- Ch 5 -- Table 5.1 -- Health systems strengthening -- Unmet needs -- Health care -- Rehabilitation -- Health systems strengthening -- Leadership and governance -- Service delivery -- Human resources -- Health technologies -- Health information systems -- Financing and affordability -- Research -- Conclusion and recommendations -- Leadership and governance -- Service delivery -- Human resources -- Health technologies -- Health information -- Financing and affordability -- Research -- Ch 6 -- Attitudes, relationships and adjustment -- Attitudes -- Wider community attitudes -- Attitudes of health professionals -- Assistance and support -- Informal care -- Formal care -- Personal assistants -- Family relationships -- Partners -- Parent and sibling relationships -- Adjustment to spinal cord injury -- Conclusion and recommendations -- Provide support -- Develop assistance services -- Change attitudes -- Foster research -- Ch 7 -- Spinal cord injury and enabling environments -- Barriers for people with spinal cord injury -- Housing -- Transportation -- Public buildings -- Addressing the barriers -- Cross-cutting measures -- Housing -- Transportation -- Public buildings -- Conclusion and recommendations -- Cross-cutting recommendations -- Housing -- Public transportation -- Public buildings and spaces -- Ch 8 -- Education and employment.

Spinal cord injury and participation in education -- Addressing barriers to education -- Legislation and policy -- Support for children with spina bifida -- Returning to school after injury -- Transitions from school -- Reducing physical barriers -- Reasonable accommodations -- Funding education and accommodations -- Social support -- Addressing attitudinal barriers -- Spinal cord injury and participation in employment -- Addressing barriers to employment -- Vocational training and supported employment -- Overcoming misconceptions about spinal cord injury -- Ensuring workplace accommodations -- Self-employment -- Social protection -- Conclusion and recommendations -- Enhancing educational participation -- Securing employment and economic self-sufficiency -- Ch 9 -- The way forward: recommendations -- Key findings -- 1. Spinal cord injury is a significant public health issue -- 2. Personal and social impacts of spinal cord injury are considerable -- 3. Barriers to services and environments restrict participation and undermine quality of life -- 4. Spinal cord injury is preventable -- 5. Spinal cord injury is survivable -- 6. Spinal cord injury need not prevent good health and social inclusion -- Recommendations -- 1. Improve health sector response to spinal cord injury -- 2. Empower people with spinal cord injury and their families -- 3. Challenge negative attitudes to people with spinal cord injury -- 4. Ensure that buildings, transport and information are accessible -- 5. Support employment and self-employment -- 6. Promote appropriate research and data collection -- Next steps -- Governments can: -- Health and social care professionals and their organizations can: -- Disabled people's organizations and nongovernmental organizations can: -- Service providers can: -- Academia can: -- The private sector can:.

People with spinal cord injury and their families can: -- Conclusion -- Technical appendix A -- Technical appendix A -- Methods used in systematic reviews on epidemiological outcomes (incidence, prevalence, etiology, mortality, cost) -- Search strategy -- Inclusion criteria -- Exclusion criteria -- Data extraction -- Recalculation of estimates -- Figure 2.5. Distribution of traumatic SCI by WHO region -- Technical appendix B -- Technical appendix B -- Limitations of the data sources used in Chapter 2 -- Technical appendix C -- Technical appendix C -- Meta-analysis of spina bifida data -- Technical appendix D -- Figure D.1 -- Technical appendix D -- Meta-analysis of the effect of folic acid food fortification on spina bifida incidence rates -- Glossary -- Glossary -- Index -- Index -- Back cover.