Paint Clearer Picture of Disability Statistics, NUDIPU Appeals to UBOS

The disability fraternity in Uganda, comprising the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities, has appealed to the Uganda National Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) to further analyze the current disability statistics.

While addressing the press on Tuesday in Bukoto, Kampala, NUDIPU Chief Executive Officer, Esther Kyozira, quoted the National Housing and Population Census 2024 Report released on October 3, 2024, which indicated a reduction in the number of persons with disabilities from 12.4% in 2014 to 5.7% in 2024.

“The 2014 Population and Housing Census report placed the total population of persons with disabilities at 12.4% while the Uganda Functional Difficulties Survey report of 2017 put the total population of persons with disabilities at 16.5%,” stated Kyozira.

According to her, the total population of persons with disabilities would be expected to rise above 12.4% and not reduce to 5.7%, owing to the many causes of disability including road accidents and mental health conditions.

“The Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety Annual Performance Report 2023 provides an annual account of the state of traffic and road safety situation in the country for the year 2023 and highlights that the trend of road traffic deaths is on the increase in Uganda,” she stated.

She further observed that since the 2014 Population and Housing Census Report did not capture data including on persons with albinism, hard of hearing persons, and persons with epilepsy which are now included in the 2024 Population and Housing Census Report, the disability prevalence in Uganda should have increased.

“This doesn’t mean that we refute government preventive measures of disability among children like immunization. The released report doesn’t paint a picture of the disability statistics as per districts to enable us to know the district disability prevalence rates in Uganda which would inform our resource mobilization efforts and district interventions on disability inclusion and rehabilitation,” she added.

When contacted for a comment, UBOS Principal Public Relations Officer, Didacus Okoth, told SoftPower News that the Census 2024 Provisional Report did not provide information about people with disability at the national level.

“This data will be published in the Census 2024 Final Results in December as per the approved Census Road map,” he explained.