Africans with disabilities

For some time, figures describing the living conditions of people with disabilities in much of the Third World have been lacking, in spite of the fact that obtaining such data has been a priority for the UN and the national authorities of the countries concerned.

Now, voluntary organizations in Africa have produced documentation that they can use with the authorities in their battle on behalf of disabled people. In the course of the past ten years, and in collaboration with several African universities and the Norwegian Federation of Organisations of Disabled People (FFO), SINTEF has mapped the living conditions of disabled people in six countries in southern Africa.

Now SINTEF has signed a memorandum of understanding with Stellenbosch University, which is recognized as one of the four best research-driven universities in South Africa. The two partners are already mapping living conditions of disabled people in other southern African countries. Their ambition is to carry out studies of this type in ten countries there, and extend cooperation to other disciplines.