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COLLABORATION YIELDS NEW DISABILITY QUESTIONNAIRE MODULE
The U.S. Agency for International Development, The Demographic and Health Surveys Program, and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics are proud to announce the result of their collaboration: the Demographic and Health Surveys Disability Module.
For more than three decades, The Demographic and Health Surveys Program (The DHS Program) has worked with National Statistical Offices to collect, disseminate, and use high quality data on population, health, nutrition, and more. Today, The DHS Program, the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID, the leader and major funder of The DHS Program) are pleased to jointly announce that The DHS Program will also be a source of disability data.
THE NEW DHS DISABIILTY MODULE
The DHS Program’s new optional Disability Module is based on the WG disability questions and is the result of ongoing collaboration between The DHS Program, WG, and USAID. These questions are part of the family of WG tools for collecting information on disability in censuses and surveys. They have been developed, tested internationally, and endorsed by the United Nations for use in population-based data collection activities. The tools are based upon the basic framework of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health.
The Disability Module, when selected for inclusion in the survey by the host country, is inserted in the household questionnaire so that disability data are collected for all persons in the household age 5 and older across six core functional domains: seeing, hearing, communication, cognition, walking, and self-care. The DHS Program surveys that include the Disability Module will have the basic necessary information on disability, which is comparable to that being collected worldwide via the WG disability tools.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DISABILITY DATA COLLECTION
Collection of disability information in The DHS Program surveys will enhance the capacity of countries to identify sub-populations that are at greater risk of experiencing restrictions in participation. Inclusion of disability in The DHS Program will also provide a wealth of information for use in country-specific monitoring and impact evaluation efforts. The DHS Program surveys that include the Disability Module will include tabulations for disability indicators disaggregated by age, residence, region, education, marital status, and household wealth. In addition, other key DHS and Sustainable Development Goals indicators will be disaggregated by disability status, thus facilitating the monitoring of the level of functioning in populations and informing policy on equalization of opportunities.
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW MODULE
The DHS Disability Module is being implemented in Angola, Haiti, South Africa, Timor Leste, and Uganda. As other countries embark on new surveys, the list will expand and disability data will become increasingly available.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
See The DHS Program Disability Module online>>
Contacts:
Madeleine Short Fabic, USAID (mshort@usaid.gov)
Sunita Kishor, The DHS Program (sunita.kishor@icf.com)
Jennifer H. Madans, WG (jhm4@cdc.gov)
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