UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: Health Equity For Disabled Persons

People with disabilities face a risk of dying up to 20 years earlier than compared to others in the society. This is the result of a new report launched today by the World Health Organization (WHO) ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 Dec.).

“Many persons with disabilities die earlier, some up to 20 years earlier, and more are at risk- double the risk - of developing a range of health conditions compared to the general population,” said Darryl Barrett, WHO’s Technical Lead for Sensory Functions, Disability and Rehabilitation when talking at a news briefing at the United Nations in Geneva.

The « Global report on health equity for person with disabilities” demonstrates while some progress has been made in recent years, systemic and persistent health inequities still persists and many persons with disabilities face an increased risk of developing chronic conditions and higher risks of premature death.

“It's a significant reason for these early deaths because of poor quality health services”, noted Mr. Barrett. “There's also a higher incidence of diseases such as tuberculosis, diabetes, stroke, sexually transmitted infections, and cardiovascular problems among persons with disabilities.”

Many of the differences in health outcomes cannot be explained by the underlying health condition or impairment, so WHO, but by avoidable, unfair and unjust factors such as inaccessible public health interventions or little consideration given to persons with disabilities during health emergencies planning.

“This report also has new global prevalence estimates for significant disability, and that it is at about 16% of the population, or at today's rate, 1.3 billion persons with significant disability", noted Mr. Barrett. "So that equates to about one in six of us.”

The report recommends 40 actions for governments to take at their health sector from addressing physical infrastructure to training of health workers.

“The attitude and competency of health workers, for example, can be quite negative and have an impact on the health outcomes of persons with disabilities”, said Mr. Barrett.

The report stresses the need for urgent action to address the inequities within the health systems.

“When governments are looking at training their health workforce, it's important that they include disability as part of that training and education so that the workforce is confident and competent to be able to deal with what it needs to deal with”, emphasized WHO’s Darryl Barrett.“Now, we recognize that many countries with low resources have particular challenges, and this is important because the report also shows that 80% of persons with disability globally live in low- and middle-income settings.”

The report shows that investing in a disability-inclusive health sector is cost-effective. WHO calculates that governments could expect a return of about USD 10 for every USD 1 invested on disability-inclusive noncommunicable disease prevention and care.

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Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: Health Equity For Disabled Persons - WHO

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