International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the publication and worldwide use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) in May 2001. The ICF is the successor classification of the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps (ICIDH), which was released for field trial purposes in 1980. Responding to criticisms of the ICIDH, and the fact that it was little used for data collection or epidemiological purposes, WHO initiated a 10-year international collaborative revision exercise, with input from hundreds of health professionals, epidemiologists, health statisticians, health systems analysts, and members of disability advocacy groups. To ensure cross-cultural and linguistic applicability of the ICF, the drafting process was informed by data from a set of innovative cultural applicability field tests (reported in U¨ stu¨n, ...