Your Excellency Minister Piukala,
Vladimir Cuk, Executive Director of the International Disability Alliance,
Our moderator, Haben Girma,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us, both in person and online.
The new global report on health equity for persons with disabilities establishes an important baseline, showing that 1.3 billion people – about one in six people globally - have a significant disability.
It also shows that persons with disabilities face health inequities that result in poor health outcomes, including premature death, a higher risk of diabetes, stroke or depression, and significant limitations in day-to-day functioning.
However, these outcomes are not the result of the health condition or impairment underlying a person’s disability. They are associated with unjust factors that are avoidable, including stigma, exclusion from education or employment, and poverty.
Health systems should alleviate these inequities, but often they exacerbate them, for example through inaccessible health facilities.
It does not have to be this way. Countries have it in their power to address many of these issues.
The report outlines how the health sector can address these factors through targeted, disability-inclusive actions, as part of primary health care, as part of every country’s journey towards universal health coverage.
For example, WHO recommends that countries should consider including services for specific impairments and health conditions like spinal cord injuries or cerebral palsy in packages of care.
Countries should also implement disability inclusion as part of health and care worker education and training, in public health campaigns, and in health emergency preparedness and response plans.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, persons with disabilities have often been among the most marginalized, suffering disproportionately both from the virus itself and from some of the public health and social measures taken by governments.
Making health systems more inclusive isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also economically smart.
This report shows that every 1 US dollar spent on disability-inclusive NCD prevention and care could bring a return of 10 US dollars in terms of increases in healthy life years and human capital.
WHO is committed to supporting all countries to make their health systems more disability-inclusive.
We are already working on a strategic planning tool for disability inclusion, and considering pilot programmes in several countries in 2023.
Making this work requires a continuing dialogue with civil society organizations that represent persons with disabilities.
WHO is committed – as am I personally – to listening to the voices of people with disabilities. I thank the International Disability Alliance for its engagement with WHO.
The right to health belongs to everybody, which is why we must work together to address the health inequities experienced by people with disabilities.
That is the world for which we are working.
I thank you.