In Sri Lanka, about 7 percent of the population was 65 or older but that demographic group accounted for 23 percent of disabled people. Disability is especially high in people in their 80s, the "age cohort" growing fastest in the world, about 4 percent a year. The subject is of interest to the World Bank, which provides loans and grants of money to many of the world's poorer countries.
It views educational "mainstreaming" laws, curb cuts, wheelchair lifts on buses and prohibitions against discrimination in hiring as relatively easy measures in the effort to make societies fairer and more prosperous. Those are development issues. The WHO, headquartered in Geneva, regularly shoulders the responsibility of gathering the data on a global basis for particular health problems. This one was particularly difficult. It not only had the usual problem of finding the least data about the places where the problem was likely to be greatest -- namely, low-income countries in Africa and Asia -- but it also had to define "disability," which is a fluid concept that depends not only on the physiological state of an individual but the barriers to activity.
Disability is further complicated simply by definition, as was evident in two surveys done in Ireland in the past decade. In , the Central Statistics Office conducted a rigorous survey of the population that included two questions about physical functioning. It found that 9. Later that year, a separate survey interviewed households more extensively and added chronic pain and breathing problems to the menu of disabling symptoms. It came up with a national disability rate of There has been considerable improvement in many places in recent years, including in many poor regions.
For example, a recent three-year project in Allahabad, India, aimed at mainstreaming disabled children successfully enrolled many in school and increased their vaccination rates, according to the report. In a poor district of Karnataka, India, a government project to build toilets for everyone was aided by a local organization, Mobility India, and a Swiss charity in building 50 toilets accessible to disabled people.
They no longer have to crawl long distances, or be carried, to a place where they can defecate. The report also shows that:. CDC is committed to protecting the health and well-being of people with disabilities throughout their lives. Through its State Disability and Health Programs and national collaborations, CDC will continue to work to lower health differences faced by people with disabilities. To advance this goal, CDC provides information and resources for public health practitioners, doctors, and those who care for people with disabilities.
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