Update from the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly – 27 May 2021
Over 1 billion people currently live with some form of disability. This number is rising as populations expand and age, and due to the increasing number of people living with noncommunicable conditions.
Today’s resolution on the highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities aims to make the health sector more inclusive by tackling the significant barriers many people with disabilities face when they try to access health services. These include:
- Access to effective health services: persons with disabilities often experience barriers including physical barriers that prevent access to health facilities; informational barriers that prevent access to health information; and attitudinal barriers leading to discrimination which severely affects the rights of persons with disabilities.
- Protection during health emergencies: persons with disabilities are disproportionately affected by public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic because they have not been considered in national health emergency preparedness and response plans.
- Access to public health interventions across different sectors: public health interventions do not reach persons with disabilities because the information has not been provided in an accessible way and the specific needs and situation of persons with disabilities have not been reflected in the interventions.
It also aims to improve collection and disaggregation of reliable data on disability to inform health policies and programmes.
The resolution lists a range of actions to be taken by the WHO Secretariat including developing a report on the highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities by the end of 2022; implementing the United Nations disability inclusion strategy across all levels of the organization; supporting the creation of a global research agenda on health and disability; and providing Member States with technical knowledge and capacity-building support necessary to incorporate a disability- inclusive approach in the health sector.
Related links:
WHO Policy on disability
Overview
WHO commits, through this policy, to making WHO an organization which is inclusive of people with disability in all their diversity and systematically integrates disability in all programme areas, contributing to the practical implementation of the globally agreed commitments contained in the United Nations (UN) treaties, conferences and summits and their follow-up, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; the Sendai Framework the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development; the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III); the multiple resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the Human Rights Council; and the World Humanitarian Summit.
This on World Health Organization website go to link here
