Your Excellency Omar Zniber, President of the Human Rights Council,
Your Excellency Dennis Francis, President the UN General Assembly,
Commissioner Volker Turk,
Excellencies, honourable ministers, dear colleagues and friends,
In April 1948, the nations of the world adopted a foundational document: the Constitution of the World Health Organization – the first document to affirm in international law that health is a human right, without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.
Eight months later, nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, affirming that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for their health and well-being, including medical care and security in the event of sickness or disability.
Together, these two documents enshrine in international law the right to health for all people, including people with disability.
And yet, three-quarters of a century later, that right remains unrealised for so many people.
Around the world today, 1.3 billion people experience disability.
This is 1 out of 6 of us.
Persons with disabilities often face health inequities – many die earlier, have poorer health, and have limitations in day-to-day functioning.
This is often due to unfair and avoidable barriers in health systems and societies.
WHO is committed to breaking down those barriers, including by working with OHCHR through our shared Memorandum of Understanding.
This is why the implementation of the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, UNDIS, is an essential component of WHO’s Transformation.
We are committed to action in each of the four core areas of UNDIS: leadership, strategic planning and management; inclusiveness; programming and organizational culture.
Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion – and mainstreaming disability rights at the regional and country level – is essential for driving progress towards healthier, fairer and more inclusive societies.
As I look back to 2019, when the UNDIS was adopted, I am proud of the progress we have made.
WHO has developed health systems tools to support countries to mainstream disability inclusion, through policy review and by engaging organizations of people with disabilities.
In Tanzania, for instance, the Ministry of Health is collaborating with WHO to promote disability inclusion by engaging civil society organizations nationally and locally.
In Montenegro, we’re working with the Ministry of Health to assess the inclusiveness of national health services, as part of broader health systems strengthening.
In 2022 we also published the first WHO Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities.
The report outlines key actions that countries can take to address systemic barriers, both within and outside the health sector.
Persons with disabilities and their representative organizations were at the core of this collaboration.
Despite the progress we have made, we know that much more needs to be done to ensure people with disabilities can access all the essential health services they need, where and when they need them.
At the same time, what we ask countries to do, we must do as well.
WHO is also making internal changes to become an employer of choice for persons with disabilities.
We have processes to recruit and retain employees with disabilities.
This includes the implementation of our employment and reasonable accommodation policies, to break down barriers in our workplace.
We have also embarked on addressing the accessibility of our 152 WHO country offices, starting with an assessment of our work environments, to address infrastructure barriers for our workforce.
Honourable Ministers, dear colleagues and friends.
More than 75 years since the adoption of the WHO Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go to realise the right to health for people with disabilities.
Fundamentally, we need a change of mindset, to see disability as another kind of ability.
We need political commitment to design and deliver disability-friendly health systems and services;
We need to mobilise the resources to implement those systems and services, especially in lower-income countries;
And crucially, we need to put persons with disabilities at the centre of this work.
Not just because it’s the right thing to do.
Not just because it’s the smart thing to do.
But because health is a human right, for all people.
I thank you.