Using the ICF to address needs of people with disabilities in international development: Cambodian case study

International development work is designed to help developing countries strengthen their economies, infrastructure, healthcare systems and educational systems in order to decrease poverty and to improve the quality of life for citizens. However, people with disabilities often miss out on the benefits of development efforts because international organizations and donors do not know how to include them. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) could serve as a model for understanding disability from a population perspective, and has the potential to guide disability mainstreaming in international development. To use the ICF as an operational tool for international development requires highlighting the relationship between specific categories of body function impairments and the environmental factors that serve as barriers or facilitators in order to identify needed accommodations on the regional or national level. In addition, accurate and complete national data are needed that use internationally accepted definitions of disability. This paper suggests a framework based on the ICF for analyzing relationships between particular impairments and environmental factors that impede or enable activity and participation. Specific examples are offered from the developing country of Cambodia to illustrate this population-based use of the ICF.