The International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health

In September 2007 the World Health Organisation (WHO) published the Children and Youth version of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF-CY) [1]. The WHO has been replacing the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps first published in 1980. The revision started with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for adults (ICF) published in 2001. The aim of the revision is to address some of the difficulties with the previous classification system; in particular the problems of nomenclature, and to try and resolve the difference of emphasis implicit in the medical and social models of disability which have often been seen as opposed to each other. The specific aims of ICF-CY are: to provide a scientific basis for understanding and studying health and health-related states, outcomes and determinants; to establish a common language for describing health and health-related states to improve communication between different users such as healthcare workers, researchers, policy makers and the public including people with disabilities; to permit comparison of data across countries, health care disciplines, services and time; and to provide a systematic coding scheme for health information systems.