Maart S.1
1University of Cape TownTown, Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa
Background: According to the World Report on Disability, data on disability are collected to estimate the prevalence of disability, plan appropriate services and to monitor equalisation of opportunities for people with disabilities Context may influence not only the rates but also the nature of disability and thus locally collected data may be of greater use in service delivery planning than national surveys.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper to compare the disability prevalence rates and contextual factors in two under resourced communities in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
Methods: A cross sectional descriptive survey design was utilised, with stratified cluster sampling of a 1000 households in two under resourced communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. Nyanga is an informal urban settlement in Cape Town and Oudtshoorn is a semi-rural town. The Washington group short set of questions were used to identify persons with disabilities.
Results: The overall prevalence of disability was 9.7% (CI 9.7-9.8). There was a significant difference between the proportions of people with disabilities in the two sites (Chi-Sq=129.5 p .001). In the urban area, the prevalence rate of any disability was 13.2 % (CI 12.0-14.3) with 0.3% (CI .1-.6) reporting inability to perform any function at all. In contrast, the semi-rural community had a lower overall prevalence rate of 6.8% (CI 6.0-7.8%) but a higher rate of those unable to perform any function 1% (CI .07-1.4). Disability was associated with gender, age, unemployment and lower income status in both areas. Context was associated with QoL, with those living in a semi-rural area reporting better QoL
Conclusion(s): Deprived areas tend to show higher disability prevalence rates than the national census estimates. The large discrepancy in prevalence and patterns of disability between the two areas indicates the importance of context when planning health interventions.
Implications: Those who experience greater deprivation also have a worse experience of disability. Service providers should have a broad range of skills to enable them to address not only the rehabilitation needs of people with disabilities, but also their social needs in diverse contexts.
Funding acknowledgements: Euro-QoL Group, Western Cape Department of Health, Carnegie Foundation, Harry Crossly Clinical Scholarship Fund, NRF
Topic: Disability & rehabilitation
Ethics approval: Faculty of Health Sciences Human Research Ethics Committee, University of Cape Town
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
