Raising a child with disability incurs extra costs 40 to 80 percent higher than normal households, according to a study done by the Department of Social Welfare and the United Nations Children's Fund entitled "Cost of Raising Children with Disabilities in the Philippines."

The extra costs, when factored into poverty rates or the percentage of poor, imply that children with disabilities are likely to experience poverty rates at 50 percent higher than other children.

Alongside the steep costs of raising children with disabilities are systemic problems, such as the inadequacy of services for children, that lead to failure to enroll in school, forgone health treatment and consultations, and lack of assistive devices, severely limiting the development and participation of these children.

Citing the findings of the study, DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo emphasized the importance of alleviating poverty for the most vulnerable populations.

The DSWD has been intervening, has been helping families with children with disabilities. However, we have to do some more, have to add more because I feel and I believe it is not enough. We will help families with children with disability to lighten the burden of expenses. It is really expensive, particularly the maintenance, if you have a child or member of a family who has a disability," Tulfo said.

The nationally representative survey supported by the Australian government, covered 240 cities and municipalities across all 17 regions and 69 provinces in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and the National Capital Region.

A total of 2,753 interviews were conducted with two groups: Households with children with disabilities who have a disability card and households with children without disabilities who live in the same areas.

Overall, the study found that families with children with disabilities incur a higher cost of living expenses. Health expenditure accounts for the largest source of extra costs, including fees for consultations and therapies, medicines and assistive devices and their maintenance, followed by transportation and education.

Health expenditure represents 10.7 percent of all consumption expenditure for households with a disability card and only 3.7 percent for those without a disability card.