For inclusive growth : Pakistan’s first ever disability survey launched

Pilot project will be implemented in Attock district

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan launched the first-ever disability survey to collect information about all kinds of disabilities in the country.

The pilot project, funded by the Canadian High Commission and supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), will be implemented by the Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) in Attock District.

Pakistan is the first country after Cambodia to implement WHO’s Model Disability Survey (MDS).

The pilot study, to be completed in 45 days, will provide basis for a country-wide disability survey.

MDS provides detailed information on the lives of people with disability. The data will help policy-makers identify interventions to maximise the inclusion and facilities for people with disabilities.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD 2008) requires all signatories to collect data to identify and address barriers faced by people with disability.

“We are very pleased to be collaborating with the WHO in Pakistan to clarify needs, resources and policies to support the people of Pakistan,” said the Canadian high commissioner at the launch on Friday.

This is a first step to identify an important community of valiant citizens of Pakistan who suffer from disabilities, said the envoy.

Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) will fund the initiative through the high commission.

According to WHO, over a billion people or around 15 per cent of the world’s population have some sort of disability. The prevalence of disability in Pakistan was estimated by the 1998 Population Census at 2.49 per cent.

PBM Managing Director Abid Waheed Sheikh said the evidence resulting from the MDS will help promote and protect rights of people with disabilities.

WHO Country Representative Dr Michel Thieren underlined the fact that MDS provides more complete understanding of the lives of people with disability and provides a better approximation of the true size and potential of the most unheard and uncounted population.

It will also offer estimates for comparisons with other countries and facilitate disability-inclusive development policies resulting in mainstreaming of persons with disabilities, he said.

Ludwig Maximilians University Munich will analyse the data.

“MDS will facilitate monitoring of the situation of people with disability, to make sure they are not left behind in the wake of development progress, and to identify ways to include disability in national and provincial post-2015 development agenda,” said a press release issued on Friday.

Practical move?

Special Talent Exchange Program President welcomed the initiative but questioned how the data will be used in absence of a dedicated department looking after issues facing people with disabilities.

Sheikh also called for a national commission on the status of persons with disabilities.

A senior official at the Directorate General of Special Education on the condition of anonymity said no work is being done for the welfare of disabled persons at the federal level. “PWDs are at the mercy of God,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2015.