Las week the results of the First Community Level Disability Study of the Cerro Navia community were presented, which constitutes the first X-ray in our country that investigates the prevalence of disability at the community level.
In the study, which was supported by the World Health Organization, the National Disability Service, the National Institute of Statistics and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile, 1,024 people were surveyed, 716 between 18 and over years and 308 between 2 to 17 years. One of the most relevant results is the prevalence of persons with disabilities in the commune, which corresponds to 36.9%, more than double the figure at the national level (16.7%).
“We also have almost twice as many deaf people -4.5% communal versus 2.9% national-. In children there is a higher prevalence of blindness -4.7% communal versus 2.8% national- and, when analyzing the gender component, it is observed that disability at the communal level has a woman’s face, since it is far above that of national average -41.2% communal versus 20.3% at the country level. Furthermore, the prevalence increases at an older age 62.5% at the communal level versus 38.3% nationally ”, explained the mayor, Mauro Tamayo.
Another relevant fact, said the mayor, is that Cerro Navia has three times more people with disabilities per home, if compared to the country number. “In other words, in a passage of 10 homes there are 13 people with disabilities, while at the national level, only 4. In addition, all the houses in the commune have at least one person with a disability,” he explained.
According to Alarcos Cieza, head of the Department of Vision, Hearing, Rehabilitation and Disability at the World Health Organization (WHO), “these results provide a photograph of disability in the commune and if it is repeated in the coming years it will allow monitoring the situation of people with disabilities ”. Cieza added that “it provides a vision of disability that does not depend on a person’s health factors, but also on environmental factors.”
In the researcher’s opinion, “the Cerro Navia commune has been empowered to carry out this survey and despite having few means, it has achieved an exemplary level of scientific robustness. If the Cerro Navia commune has implemented this survey, there is no excuse for this to be replicated in many other communes throughout Chile and throughout Latin America”.
The president of the president of the Chilean Association of the Deaf (Asoch), Gustavo Vergara, agreed with the WHO representative that this is a study that other municipalities should implement for the development of public policies with a focus on Human Rights and integrating the Model of Social Determinants of Health.
These results will allow the development of more pertinent and timely local policies regarding social inclusion. In addition, they will be a contribution to the work on disability in the studies that will be applied in America and the rest of the world, to have comparable statistics.
