Abstract---Background: planning a rehabilitation system is based on
the actual information on the classification (types) of disability and
existing rehabilitation facilities. Objective: The study aimed to point
out the prevalence of different forms of disability in sample urban and
rural areas in Qena, Upper Egypt. Method: The study was carried out
through random distribution of 32294 questionnaires over randomly
selected urban and rural areas in Qena. The questionnaire included 6
types of disabilities. The aim of the study and the components of the
questionnaire were explained to each household. Participants were
asked to check one or more types of disability they suffer if any.
Results: The information obtained showed a total of 1890 subjects
suffering from movement disabilities, 3330 from vision disorders, 795
from hearing disorders, 1292 from learning disabilities, 135 from fits,
202 from strange behavior, and 184 from age-related disabilities.
Furthermore, the number of disabled persons living in rural areas was
bigger than those living in urban areas with hearing disabilities,
learning disabilities, fits, and strange behavior. Meanwhile, the
number of disabled persons living in urban areas was bigger than that
who were living in rural areas with moving, seeing, and old age
disabilities. The percentage of all types of disability was higher in
females compared to males. Conclusion: Based on this prevalence, it
is required to direct disability services to the more prevalent types ofdisability, namely visual, movement, learning, hearing, mental, and
aging disabilities in sequence. Further concentration of services needs
to target urban and rural areas according to the corresponding
prevalence of the types of disabilities in each of them. This needs
further studies to check the current status of services provided for
different types of disability and their demographic distribution in
Qena. |
