Prevalence of intellectual disability in Iran: Toward a new conceptual framework in data collection

| July 2015 | 715 different in Iran as compared with other countries.[7] The study reveals that there is an extensive conceptual and methodological gap in the census method and we should pay more attention to reduce the gap. The International Classification of Functioning disability and health (ICF) is a comprehensive population health measurement framework applied for the scientific standardization of data on health and disability worldwide. ICF makes it possible to collect those vital data in a consistent and internationally comparable manner.[8,9] In 1998, in order to reach a universally accepted conceptual framework to define and classify disability, World Health Organization (WHO) has developed an instrument entitled the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) that provides a standardized method for measuring health and disability across cultures. WHODAS 2.0 has been developed specifically to reflect key features of the ICF. [10] The instrument has been used in many countries and it should be valid in Iran for increasing data quality in surveys and censuses.[11] In conclusion, using the conceptual framework of ICF in censuses and national health surveys is important and essential in Iran. ICF based prevalence can provide comparable data at the national and global level for health and social policy development and monitoring, health and disability-related legislation, and service provision and development of disability research.