7: Health and Welfare Children with Disabilities Article 13 Children with disabilities constitute an especially vulnerable group, for whom extreme poverty is frequently compounded by exclusion and discrimination. It is estimated that a small percentage of the 19 million children in the country are disabled. Types of handicaps can be found in Annex 5, table ( b). The care and maintenance of disabled persons are regulated by the Disabled Persons Act. The primary obligation for care of the disabled rests with parents and guardians. In the case of parental abandonment or neglect, the Commissioner of Social Welfare can make an application in court for maintenance orders. The Government requires that every disabled person name be entered in the Disabled Persons Register. Every local authority is required by law to provide facilities for the care and maintenance of disabled person; this can be done either alone or in collaboration with any person or institution. The Department of Social Welfare in both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar provide services for people living with disabilities: social and financial support; provision of assisting devices (such as hearing aids, crutches, wheel chairs, tri-cycles, white canes, etc.); vocational trainings for children with disabilities; games and sports programmes; help to establish small businesses. Other targets relating to disabled children are to identify them early; increase their access to school including secondary; reach with effective social protection; avoid institutional care; and provide special programmes for different disabilities (e.g. for the blind and deaf). The MVC programme discussed elsewhere in this report also includes measures to target children with disabilities. 30