Prevalence of Childhood Disability in Basrah City Using the Ten Questions Tool

Abstract

Background: The neglect of disabled children in the developing countries and less information about its types and prevalence in addition to the low level of health services they had.Aim: To identify the prevalence of handicapping disabilities among children up to 9 years of age and their epidemiological pattern in the Basrah city center.Methods: In a population-base, cross-sectional household survey was carried out inBasrah city. A total sample (1734)children, males were 56% and females were 44 % of the sample using the ten questions survey tool.Results: The survey team detected 73 disability cases 48 were males and 25 were females. The detected prevalence of disability in our sample was 37.7%.Disabled children, on average, were in the fourth or fifth birth order among their brothers and sisters and 47 % of them were counted as the second or third disability inthe same family. The number of disabling conditions in the same child varied widely: 31.5% of cases had a single disability, 24.6% had two conditions and 43.8% had three or more conditions. The questionnaire children up to 9 years of age in thesefamilies formed 56.2% of the population.Conclusion: The survey managed successfully to document a comparable estimate of the prevalence rate for childhood disabilities in the community and provided a general picture of their types and suspected causes. It also reported a low service delivery for these disabilities and identified some risk factors related to their occurrence.To apply this survey method in center Basra city is justified in an extended field study with certain modifications to suit the local culture. This study also should be complemented with a second stage referral for follow up examination of detected cases of and evaluation of the disability and its required services.