PWD numbers shoot up by 1.3 million
A section of Persons Living with Disability participate in the Makerere University Disability Run in 2024. PHOTO/BUSEIN SAMILU
What you need to know:
- Officials from NUDIPU referred Monitor to the Commissioner of PWDs at the Ministry of Gender, Mr Prosper Muhumuza, who concurred with Ubos that none of their earlier reports had shown the questionable figures.
The number of People Living with Disabilities (PWDs) has shot up by 1.3 million in the last 10 years, the final 2024 Census report shows.
Ubos officials were on January 8 quick to question officials from the National Union for Persons with Disabilities (NUDIPU-Uganda), who had earlier raised the alarm that the number of PWDs had dropped from 12.4 percent in 2014 to a mere 5.7 percent in 2024.
Mr Didacus Okoth, the Ubos spokesperson, challenged anyone to come out and show them anywhere in the October 2024 report where they indicated that PWDs make up only 5.7 percent of the total population as was alleged last year by Ms Esther Kyozira, the NUDIPU chief executive officer.
Officials from NUDIPU referred Monitor to the Commissioner of PWDs at the Ministry of Gender, Mr Prosper Muhumuza, who concurred with Ubos that none of their earlier reports had shown the questionable figures.
“The 5.7 percent figure was never official. What happened was that MPs and civil society groups added the prevalence rates for individual categories of disability. This led to their calculation of 5.7 percent,” Mr Muhumuza said.
“We are scheduled to meet with Ubos this month to review the details. We also plan to conduct a functional difficulty survey among PWDs. This survey, alongside the 13.6 percent prevalence rate, will provide us with adequate data to guide PWDs programmes,” he added.
But Ms Kyozira said they are not satisfied with the increment captured in the final report, noting that they have already tasked Ubos to explain the slow growth.
“I have not yet received and read the final report, but what I can say is that the number is still low because you cannot convince me that only one million people were born in 10 years. Maybe they have a basis which needs to be explained to us,” she said.
Mr Muhumuza said they are still studying the different parameters and subcategories of disability.
“Additionally, we plan to conduct a functional difficulty survey among persons with disabilities. Alongside the reported 13.6 percent prevalence rate, conducting this survey across the country should provide us with comprehensive data ,” he said.
The final 2024 census report is more elaborate and detailed than its preliminary October report and indicates that the number of PWDs had increased from 4.4 million in 2014 to 5.5 million in 2024, putting them at 13.2 percent of the total population.
A “one size fits all” approach is not effective when working with individuals who have disabilities. Communicate with your employees to best accommodate their needs. Stock PHOTO
The NUDIPU officials said the Ubos enumerators used four functioning questions focusing on vision, hearing, remembering, and mobility to determine the prevalence of disability.
Mr David Nangosi, the NUDIPU programmer officer, said: “For us, we are confident that the numbers of PWDs have increased more than what is being reported. We have already written to Ubos to give a comprehensive comment regarding the PWDs census.”
Compiled by Busein Samilu, Sylivia Katushabe, & Karim Muyobo.
