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UNESCAP News Services |
Date 27
September 2004
Press Release No: N/25/2004
Washington Group on Disability Statistics meets in Bangkok,
29 Sep.-1 Oct. 2004
Bangkok (United Nations Information Services)
-- The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the National Statistical Office
of Thailand will be co-hosted the first ever in the Asia-Pacific
region of the Fourth Washington Group on Disability Statistics
Meeting, from 29 September to 1 October 2004, at the United
Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok. The Washington Group has
so far met three times.
The Washington Group on Disability Statistics
was formed in 2001 as a result of the United Nations International
Seminar on Measurement of Disability, New York, June 2001. An
outcome of that meeting was the recognition that statistical
and methodological work was needed at international level in
order to facilitate the comparison of data on disability across
countries. Consequently, a group to address some of the issues
identified in the Seminar was set up under the umbrella of the
United Nations Statistical Commission. The National Center for
Health Statistics (NCHS) of the United States, which now plays
a key role as the group secretariat, hosted the first meeting
of the group in Washington D.C., and the group was named after
the location of its first meeting.
The main objectives of the Group are:
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To guide the development of a small set(s)
of general disability measures, suitable for use in censuses,
sample based national surveys, or other statistical formats,
which will provide basic necessary information on disability
throughout the world; and
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To recommend one or more extended sets of survey
items to measure disability or principles for their design,
to be used as components of population surveys or as supplements
to specialty surveys.
As disability measurement has become a priority
concern in national policy and decision-making circles, the
Group is enjoying an ever-increasing attendance of statisticians
and health specialists from around the globe. For the Bangkok
meeting, some 30 experts from 20 different countries and a number
of representatives from international organizations are gathering
to share their experience and expertise.
The Washington Group meeting is being held in
conjunction with the second regional workshop of a UNESCAP two-year
project on disability statistics funded by the Republic of Korea.
18 countries from the region are participating in the project,
some using their own funds, and the workshop will review national
plans of action for improved disability measurement. The work
of the Washington Group towards standard disability measures
will positively affect the planned testing of disability questions
in selected countries of the region.
For more information about the Washington Group
meeting, visit the website at:
http://www.unescap.org/stat/meet/wgds4/index.asp
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