sahr2001 - Health Systems Trust

17 • Health and Related Indicators
Disability
The two sources of data for this section were the Census 1996 and the CASE
Disability Survey of 10 000 households. Similar methodologies were used in
each study.
In the census questionnaire, respondents were asked to indicate whether or
not there were any people with serious visual, hearing, physical or mental
disabilities in the household. The seriousness of the disability was not clearly
defined. Rather, the respondent’s perceptions of seriousness were relied on.
In the CASE Disability Survey people reported moderate to severe disability,
where disability was defined as a limitation in one or more activities of daily
living (seeing, hearing, communication, moving, getting around, daily life
activities, learning, intellectual and emotional). Neither source therefore is a
count of the number of people in South Africa who have an impairment or
handicap as defined by the World Health Organisation.
Eastern Cape
Free State
Gauteng
KwaZulu-Natal
Mpumalanga
Northern Cape
Northern Province
North West
Western Cape
South Africa
Prevalence of disability (percentage)
1996 1 7.3 9.8 6.2 6.0 7.6 5.6 6.0 8.3 3.7 6.5
1998 2 8.9 5.8 5.2 6.7 4.5 4.5 6.3 3.1 3.8 5.9
Prevalence of hearing disability (percentage)
1996 1 1.1 1.3 0.8 0.9 1.2 0.8 1.1 1.6 0.5 1.0
Prevalence of mental illness (percentage)
1996 1 0.7 5.4 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.7 0.4 0.5
Prevalence of physical disability (percentage)
1996 1 1.9 1.6 1.0 1.6 1.1 1.2 1.5 1.8 0.9 1.4
Prevalence of sight disability (percentage)
1996 1 2.6 5.2 2.9 2.2 3.6 2.3 2.3 3.4 3.8 2.7
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