Disability and Poverty: Uncovering the Empirical Dynamics

HD Learning Week

November 10, 2003

Why are we here?

• Gain a better understanding of what is meant by “disability”

• Explore the relationship between poverty and disability

• Learn about the challenges of doing empirical work on disability

Today’s Program

• Introduction• General overview

– Epidemiology– Relation to poverty– Potential utility of LSMS

• Case studies– Mental health in Bosnia – Household survey in Indonesia – Poverty Mapping in Uganda

Who are disabled people?

The United Nations census recommendations state a person with disability is defined as

A person who is limited in the kind or amount of activities that he or she can do because of ongoing difficulties due to a long-term physical condition, mental condition, or health problem (United Nations, 1998)

There are 400 million disabled people in developing countries

What causes disability?

• Malnutrition• Poor maternal health• Child birth• Vehicular crashes• Work injuries• Conflict• Illness – e.g., TB, polio, measles, HIV/AIDS,

diabetes, etc.

World Bank and disability – What is the link?

• Successful implementation of the MDG’s results in the prevention of disability and increased productivity for disabled people

• Two-way causality between disability and poverty• Disabled people are disproportionately poor, and

poor people are disproportionately disabled• Doing a good job on poverty alleviation requires

taking disabled people into account

Disability and Poverty – Research Concerns

• The definition of disability is complex

• Different definitions and different data collection methodologies yield different rates

• Data on disability often not collected, or at least not given proper attention

Prevalence of Disability in Selected Countries

Percent of Population Disabled

Bangladesh 0.8

Niger 1.3

Egypt 4.4

Italy 5.0

Germany 8.4

United States 15.0

Australia 18.0

International Efforts to Obtain Comparable Data

• UNSD study on disability data collection

• DISTAT-II

• Washington City Group on Disability Measurement

Needed: Empirical Work on Disability

• Data on prevalence

• Relation to poverty, income, health, and education

• Understanding of the dynamics between disability and poverty