Study of Prevalence and Types of Disabilities at Rural Health Centre Mandur – A Community Based Cross Sectional House to House Study in Rural Goa

Abstract

Aims and Objectives: To study the prevalence types and causes of disabilities at rural field practice areaunder Rural Health Training Centre and to make suitable recommendations based on the study findingsMaterial and Methods: It was a cross sectional house to house survey in five sub-centre areas in the fieldpractice area of the department of Preventive & Social Medicine Goa medical college. Study lasted fromJune 2005- October 2006. Systematic random sampling with one stage cluster sampling was used. Appropriatestudy instrument and statistics were used.Results: The total population of the present study was 4868 persons which were obtained from 936 familiesresiding in the 5 subcentres of Rural Health Centre Mandur which had a total population of 36180. Thetotal “persons with disability” were 190. Total numbers of disabilities found in the study were 232. Theoverall prevalence of disabilities was 3.90%. There was a statistically significant association between age,education, occupation, per-capita income and prevalence of disability. The main types of disabilities werevisual disability (41.80%) hearing and speech disability (22.41%), locomotor disability (19.39) and mentalretardation and mental illness (16.40%). Commonest causes of disabilities were cataract, presbycusis,fracture, moderate mental retardation.

Keywords

• Disability
• Prevalence