Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM

Mental disability seems to be present throughout, with the highest proportion between ages of 30 and 50.In this section we asked the interviewees what causes they identified to explain their disability. The answersare reported here.Figure 8: Causes of Disability Identified by Respondents3025• Females • Males • Both Sexes20151050Birth/1st YearLandmine/UxoWar InjuryWork AccidentHome AccidentRoad AccidentDiseaseMistreatmentDestiny/CurseTragic Personal EventOther/Unknown CauseDisability from birth, or acquired during the first year of life, represents 26.4 % of the totalidentified causes 14 . This has been reported as the major explanation for disability. Disease or illness is themost common identified cause. However, we do believe that a large proportion of the first category couldalso come under this explanation. It is believed that improvement of health systems, particularly with theimplementation of the Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS) including specific services for persons withdisability, will contribute to better treatment and care, especially prenatal and birth care.War-related disabled also constitute a considerable proportion: almost 17% of all declared causes arelinked to past conflicts: landmines or UXO (6.8%) or other types of war injuries (10.0%): bullet, grenade,bomb, booby trap, etc. If one considers an average population of 25 million inhabitants in Afghanistan, thisrepresents 123,000 people who were affected by war and its consequences; of these almost 50,000 arelandmine or UXO survivors.Finally, a significant number of respondents gave supernatural explanations for their disability. Analyses showthat these reasons are mainly given for mental forms of disability and epilepsy/seizures.War-relateddisabled alsoconstitute aconsiderableproportion:almost 17%of all declaredcauses are linkedto past conflictsConclusions & RecommendationsTo Sum Up:According to this first overview, Afghans with disability are most likely to:• Live in Western and Central areas;• Be men;• Be physically disabled;• Have been either disabled at birth/during the first year or have a war-related disability.14We decided to combine « at birth » and « during the first year » in order to avoid stigma that is linked to disability caused from congenitalfactors. Our pre-tests showed that no one admitted that the disability was present « at birth ». In order to obtain responses we decided towiden the option. As a result this category can refer to congenital problems or difficult delivery, or to illness or disease during very earlychildhood.Prevalence and Typology13