RAMALLAH, Wednesday, December 2, 2020 (WAFA) - On the third of December, all countries around the world celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and on this occasion, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in a report today that more than 15% of Palestinian children under the age of 18 have some sort of disability.

It said that 2.4% of children in the age group of 2 to4 years suffer from at least one type of disability. This percentage reached about 3% in the Gaza Strip compared to 2% in the West Bank. The percentage of disabilities was about 15% among children in the age group of 5 to 17 years, about 17% in the West Bank, and about 13% in Gaza Strip.

About 10% of children out of the total number of children with disabilities in the age group 5-17 years are not currently enrolled in education, with male children constituting about 69% of the total compared to about 31% among female children.

About 3% of children aged 2-17 years old suffer from seeing disabilities even with wearing glasses, about 6% suffer from hearing disabilities even when they use hearing aids, and about 28% suffer from walking disabilities even with the use of equipment or receiving assistance in walking.

By tracking the functional capabilities in the Palestinian Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2019-2020 (PMICS6) for children aged 2-4 years, said PCBS, it found that the highest percentage is communication, which reached about 1%, while the highest percentage in the range of functional abilities among children in the age 5- 17 years was anxiety, which reached about 10%.

M.K.