Original article
English
Singh R, Abudejaja A.
Int J Rehabil Res. 1983 Jun;6(2):153-64.
Abstract
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya pays special attention to the problem of disability. It truly follows the policy: “Full participation and equality for all persons with disability”. In the country, the number and types of disabled persons have been documented thrice since 1964 and priority social services have been extended for them. The prevalence of disabled persons per 1000 population has shown a downward trend from 29.26 in 1964 to 18.65 in 1976. Males were observed to have significantly higher rates than females. The age specific disability rate per 1000 was 7.92 under 15 years, 24.23 between 15 to 49 years and 99.95 for 50 years or more. Blindness and paralysis were the first and second frequent causes of disability in the three counts carried out in 1964, 1973 and 1976. Among all causes of disability mental subnormality and loss of limbs respectively moved up from position five and four in 1964 to three and five in 1973 and 1976; whereas, deafness and dumbness together moved down from position three to four during the same period of time. Compared to the situation in 1964, all categories of disabled persons per 1000 population showed a declining trend over the years except of mentally subnormal who showed an increasing trend. The common causes of disability in the descending order of frequency were acquired diseases (both communicable and non-communicable), accidents, congenital and other disorders. Prevention of disability and services for disabled persons are outlined along with reference to the newly founded National Committee for Care to Disabled Persons.
Keywords: Trend and types of disabled persons in Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
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