A health survey using the impairment and handicap classifications from the ICIDH was carried out in conjunction with a study of the WHO community-based rehabilitation programme in a village and a slum area in Pakistan. The prevalence of handicaps defined in this way was about half that of impairments, the most common handicaps being with mobility, occupation, and social integration. There was a slightly higher degree of handicap in the village. In both areas diseases of the musculoskeletal system, the ear, and the respiratory tract were common, but the frequency of infectious, respiratory, endocrine, blood, and digestive diseases was higher in the slum area.