Bridging the Gap Secondary data analysis

Abstract

Disability is one of the most neglected topics in development even though an estimated 80 percent of disabled people live in low and middle income countries (WHO, 2011). Kenya enacted the disability act in 2003 and carried out a national survey on persons with disability survey in 2007. The survey found that at least 4.6% of people in Kenya were living with disability. This was closely followed by including disability questions in the 2009 Kenya Housing and Population Census. The census found that at least 3.5% of Kenyans had disability. The purpose of this analytical report is to document the state of disability and its associated factors using the Kenya Housing and Population Census of 2009. The choice of this data source was informed by the fact that it is national in coverage, it is comprehensive in examining all the domains of disability and it is the most recent. While the results from the 10% allowable sample of the national census revealed that the national rate of disability was 3.5% provincial differentials point out that some provinces have very high rates of the disabled persons. Nyanza province has the highest disability rate of 22.9% and Rift valley (19.8%), Western (16.2%) and Eastern province (15.5%) have equally high prevalence rates of disability. On the other hand, North Eastern Province has the lowest rate of persons living with disability (4.7%). Physical, visual and hearing disabilities were the most common while self-care was the least mentioned among persons with one disability. This report found that disability was negatively associated with education. In particular, persons with disability were less likely to be currently in school and were also twice more likely to have never attended school as compared to their counterparts. In addition, using the household wealth as a proxy measure for wealth, results revealed that disability increased with the wealth status of the household. Persons with disability were also 1.2 times more likely to live in urban areas as compared to rural areas. Disability was also associated with lower odds of being employed. In particular, results revealed that as compared to persons with disability, those without disability were 1.3 times more likely to have engaged in work for pay in the last 7 days preceding the census. Future research should focus on the actual pathways on the disability –poverty nexus. Owing to the fact that Kenya has a devolved government, there is need to have a national survey that takes counties as the primary sampling units to characterize any environmental factors associated with disability. In order to prove causation, it would be important for planners and policy makers to think of setting up longitudinal studies to help in shedding further light on the probable multidimensional effect of disability on development.