Being mostly Muslim (over 90 per cent) the people of Pakistan are culturally homogenous. The other religious groups include mainly the Christians, Hindus, Parsis and Buddhists. Urdu is the national language and is spoken and understood Pakistan. The regional languages are Punjab, Sindh, Pushto and Balochi.
INTRODUCTION
1. PURPOSE OF THE PILOT STUDY:
The Pilot Study is part of an international effort to assess the prevalence of sever disability in children in developing countries and has been carried out in collaboration with Gertrude H. Sergievsky Centre, Gishop Bekkers Institute, Rehabilitation International and UNICEF Punjab Government. The main objectives of the Pilot Study conducted in Pakistan were the same as laid down in the Procedure Manual to be followed in various of the world to achieve comparability of results.
The primary aim of the study was to provide preliminary estimates of disabilities in the community. A equally important purpose was to evaluate methods to identify severely disabled 3-9 years old children, so that they can be helped. The methods used for the study were the following.
1. A house to house survey, using two questionnaires, followed by a provisional diagnostic evaluation of suspected cases and random sample of non cases.
2. Quit separately, a key informant survey asking knowledgeable members of the community to name the severely disabled children they know.
The primary emphasis of the study was on the preliminary idea of the rate of frequency of severe disability in the population studied. The questionnaires and the methodology, therefore, were themselves to be evaluated according to the following criteria:
(a) They should correctly identify almost all children who are severely disabled, and the same time’
(b) They should not identify too many healthy children as disabled.
It was realized from the very beginning that the Pilot Study being the first of its kind in this part of the world, will have to adopt an open minded approach regarding all aspect of the study. No assumptions could be made about the validity and reliability of either the instruments or the methodology used. Gathering information through house to house surveys has not so far been established as a trustworthy method o identifying disabilities in Pakistan because of the social sigma still attached to them and dislike of the general population for unwanted intruders in the privacy of their home. It was, therefore, essential to extend the scope of the study to include the exploration of attitudes, nature of responses, understanding of questions, perception of disabilities and other relevant areas. This task was made challenging by the lack of proper orientation among the interviewers available fro the study.
