Abstract
People with disabilities face several challenges, especially children who are often discriminated against and have limited access to social services. Despite the significant impact on a child’s development, family life, and its economic implications, research on childhood disability is inadequate. This study aimed to study the situation of children with disabilities up to the age of 14 years by type of disability and explored factors associated with disability. The study involved analyzing the National Statistical Office’s 2015 Household Socio-Economic Survey. There were 22,499 children aged 0 – 14 years in the sample of 15,538 households. Applying sampling weights, the country-wide estimates were derived. The study found that 93,129 children aged 0 to 14 years (0.87%) suffered from some kind of physical and intellectual disabilities, and most of them were congenital disabilities (0.80%). High prevalence of child disability was found in the following groups: males (0.93%), the 11-14 year old age group (1.12%), household heads with vocational diploma (1.20%) and unemployed household heads (1.16%). Among children with disabilities, more than one-third did not attend school. In addition, almost all children with both physical and intellectual disabilities could not take care of themselves or go out independently (81.6% and 94.5%). After multivariate adjustment, it was found that the children aged 7 – 14 years had a 1.39-time higher prevalence of disability compared to children aged 0 – 6 years (Adj.OR=1.39; 95%CI= 1.05-1.84). On the other hand, the prevalence of children with disabilities was lower in households where the heads were employed by the government and by private companies (51% and 41%, respectively) than those with unemployed household heads. The prevalence of child disability was concluded to be high among school age children (5 – 14 years) and in households with unemployed household heads. School aged children lacked educational opportunities especially those with congenital disabilities. The present study suggests that the government should pay more attention on special education of people with disabilities, and children with disabilities should have education or vocational training appropriate to their condition. Special education policies for children with disabilities have to be evaluated for improving the effectiveness. Moreover, authorities should promote private or public organizations to employ the head of family having children with disabilities.
