Childhood disability in rural Niger: a population-based assessment using the Key Informant Method

• Published in: BMC pediatrics Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 170 - 11
• Main Authors: Banks, Lena Morgon, Liu, Jing, Kielland, Anne, Tahirou, Ali Bako, Harouna, Abdoul Karim Seydou, Mactaggart, Islay, Dybdahl, Ragnhild, Mounkaila, Dan Firoun, Grønningsæter, Arne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 31-03-2022; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Access to education; Adolescent; Age; Censuses; Child; Children & youth; Community; Data collection; Demographic aspects; Disability; Disabled children; Disabled Persons; Estimates; Health services; Hearing Loss - diagnosis; Hearing Loss - epidemiology; Humans; Inclusive education; Literacy; Niger - epidemiology; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; Population; Population-based studies; Prevalence; Rural areas; Rural health; Rural Population; Statistics; Niger; Nigeria; Malawi; Bangladesh
• ISSN: 1471-2431; 1471-2431
• DOI: 10.1186/s12887-022-03226-0

Data on childhood disability is essential for planning health, education and other services. However, information is lacking in many low- and middle-income countries, including Niger. This study uses the Key Informant Method, an innovative and cost-effective strategy for generating population-based estimates of childhood disability, to estimate the prevalence and causes of moderate/severe impairments and disabling health conditions in children of school-going age (7-16 years) in the Kollo department of western Niger.
Community-based key informants were trained to identify children who were suspected of having the impairment types/health conditions included in this study. Children identified by key informants were visited by paediatricians and underwent an assessment for moderate/severe vision, hearing, physical and intellectual impairments, as well as epilepsy, albinism and emotional distress.
Two thousand, five hundred sixty-one children were identified by key informants, of whom 2191 were visited by paediatricians (response rate = 85.6%). Overall, 597 children were determined to have an impairment/health condition, giving a prevalence of disability of 11.4 per 1000 children (10.6- 12.2). Intellectual impairment was most common (6.5 per 1000), followed by physical (4.9 per 1000) and hearing impairments (4.7 per 1000). Many children had never sought medical attention for their impairment/health condition, with health seeking ranging from 40.0% of children with visual impairment to 67.2% for children with physical impairments.
The Key Informant Method enabled the identification of a large number of children with disabling impairments and health conditions in rural Niger, many of whom have unmet needs for health and other services.