BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO OVER 1,2 million people in Zimbabwe have varying challenges performing physical activities, while 192 000 have permanent disabilities, latest statistics from the April 2022 Census have revealed.
Presenting the 2022 Population and Housing Census preliminary report on functional difficulties in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency director-general Taguma Mahonde said the statistics would help the government on policymaking.
“The census adopted the six main functional domains of difficulty of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics namely seeing, hearing, walking or climbing stairs, remembering or concentrating, self-care and communication,” he said.
“The figures are critical to policy formulation so that critical interventions can be made. They are important for policy formulation. From here, we will be calling for papers for in-depth analysis. What would be more helpful is interventions to assist those with difficulties. These figures relate much to healthcare services. Some of these can be corrected.”
Mahonde outlined that illness was the major underlying cause of difficulty in self-care, accounting for 35%, while being born with difficulty was the main cause for difficulty in communication, accounting for 43 %.
Unit Head of the Social and Human Sciences Sector, in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Regional Office for Southern Africa in Harare, Phinith Chanthalangsy, commended Zimbabwe for adopting the national disability policy.
He stressed the need to harmonise data collection system on disability.
