Classifications

International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, known more commonly as ICF, is a classification of health and health-related domains. These domains are classified from body, individual and societal perspectives by means of two lists: a list of body functions and structure, and a list of domains of activity and participation. Since an individual’s functioning and disability occurs in a context, the ICF also includes a list of environmental factors.

The ICF is WHO's framework for measuring health and disability at both individual and population levels. The ICF was officially endorsed by all 191 WHO Member States in the Fifty-fourth World Health Assembly on 22 May 2001(resolution WHA 54.21). Unlike its predecessor, which was endorsed for field trail purposes only, the ICF was endorsed for use in Member States as the international standard to describe and measure health and disability.

The ICF puts the notions of ‘health’ and ‘disability’ in a new light. It acknowledges that every human being can experience a decrement in health and thereby experience some degree of disability. Disability is not something that only happens to a minority of humanity. The ICF thus ‘mainstreams’ the experience of disability and recognises it as a universal human experience. By shifting the focus from cause to impact it places all health conditions on an equal footing allowing them to be compared using a common metric – the ruler of health and disability. Furthermore ICF takes into account the social aspects of disability and does not see disability only as a 'medical' or 'biological' dysfunction. By including Contextual Factors, in which environmental factors are listed ICF allows to records the impact of the environment on the person's functioning.

MORE INFORMATION

ICD Revision

WHO-FIC Network Meeting 2011

SNOMED-CT to ICD-10 Maps Preview Release

The World Health Organization and The International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization (IHTSDO) are pleased to announce that a preview release of SNOMED CT to ICD-10 cross maps is now available

ICD-10 ONLINE

ICF ONLINE

International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health

HISTORY OF UPDATES

ANNOUNCEMENT

1 July 2011 - The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), in its role as the Australian Collaborating Centre for the WHO’s Family of International Classifications, hosted Towards ICD-11 for Australia to announce the World Health Organization's (WHO) development process for the International Classification of Diseases 11th revision (ICD-11).

ANNOUNCEMENT

22 July 2010 - WHO and the International Health Terminology Standard Development Organisation (IHTSDO) have worked on a collaborative arrangement to link the WHO Family of Classifications and the Standardized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT). This arrangement enables the linkage of terminologies and classifications. In the era of computerization of health information and electronic health records, it represents a major achievement.

Internal Medicine TAG – Hepato-pancreatobiliary Workgroup Co-Chair Dr Emmet B. Keeffe dies

April 12, 1942 – August 8, 2011 Dr Emmet B. Keeffe, co-chair of the hepato-pancreatobiliary working group of the International Classification of Diseases revision, passed away unexpectedly on August 8, 2011 at the age of sixty-nine. In addition to being an active chair in the ICD revision, Dr Keeffe was a former president of the American Gastroenterological Association and Professor of Medicine Emeritus in Hepatology at Stanford University. Dr Keeffe published more than 700 journal articles and book chapters, largely focusing on his clinical research interest: treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C. His full biography can be read online. We will miss his contributions to medicine and science, particularly in his work towards revising the International Classification of Diseases. We are all saddened by his death – which will unfortunately be coded in ICD-10. On behalf of WHO and ICD revision, we extend our sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues.