SESRIC participated in the expert meeting on statistics on children organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia on 4–6 March 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The meeting served as a platform to support countries in the implementation of the Guidance on Statistics on Children and advance methodological work on the priority areas identified.

During the meeting, Dr. Ahmet ÖZTÜRK, Senior Researcher at SESRIC, presented the results of the study titled “Understanding how responses to social and medical models differ by socio-economic characteristics: results from a comprehensive survey”. The study explores associations between two different measures of disability: Self-reported functional limitations based on the Washington Group / UNICEF Child Functioning Module questions and objectively screened clinical impairments. The study aims to understand how responses to social and medical models differ by socio-economic characteristics.

The findings show that the choice of disability measure strongly influences the prevalence, composition and outcomes of people identified as disabled. The study also shows that compared to children without a medical disability report, those with a report are more likely to have symptoms of depression or anxiety.