Disability rights activists have highlighted that people with disabilities in India experience an average loss of 10-17 years in life expectancy.
Despite this, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has recently declared that the National Health Family Survey-6 (NFHS-6) will not be collecting data on disability. According to the ministry, since “the questions on disability were included for the first time in the fifth round of NFHS” and “it was observed that disability prevalence was only 1% for rural areas and 0.9% urban areas” the “disability data won’t change fast.”
In response, many disability rights activists have questioned the grounds on which the data recording is being excluded. Further, many of them have also alleged that the criteria used by NFHS questionnaires to record data on disabilities is narrowly defined and leads to massive underreporting.
Satendra Singh from Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change described how “the lifespan of individuals with the most severe form of SCD is, on average, 20-30 years shorter compared to the SCD-affected population in the U.S. However, we lack data on this disability in India, despite the government's claim to ‘eliminate’ SCD by 2047.
“The government’s response stating that data does not change over three years, demonstrates a lack of sensitivity towards the lives of children with SCD and those with other disabilities.” [1]
With the NFHS-6 survey scheduled to begin in just a month,
let’s push the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to include questions regarding disability in its survey; and
demand that they collect data on all disabilities listed under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
The gap between data collection and effective design of policies must be bridged.
Sources:
Disability rights activists have highlighted that people with disabilities in India experience an average loss of 10-17 years in life expectancy.
Despite this, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has recently declared that the National Health Family Survey-6 (NFHS-6) will not be collecting data on disability. According to the ministry, since “the questions on disability were included for the first time in the fifth round of NFHS” and “it was observed that disability prevalence was only 1% for rural areas and 0.9% urban areas” the “disability data won’t change fast.”
In response, many disability rights activists have questioned the grounds on which the data recording is being excluded. Further, many of them have also alleged that the criteria used by NFHS questionnaires to record data on disabilities is narrowly defined and leads to massive underreporting.
Satendra Singh from Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change described how “the lifespan of individuals with the most severe form of SCD is, on average, 20-30 years shorter compared to the SCD-affected population in the U.S. However, we lack data on this disability in India, despite the government's claim to ‘eliminate’ SCD by 2047.
“The government’s response stating that data does not change over three years, demonstrates a lack of sensitivity towards the lives of children with SCD and those with other disabilities.” [1]
With the NFHS-6 survey scheduled to begin in just a month,
let’s push the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to include questions regarding disability in its survey; and
demand that they collect data on all disabilities listed under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
The gap between data collection and effective design of policies must be bridged.
Sources: