The 66th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution calling for better health care for people with disabilities. The resolution encourages Member States to:
- make all mainstream health services inclusive of people with disabilities;
- provide more support to informal caregivers;
- ensure that people with disabilities have access to rehabilitation services that can enable them to achieve their full potential and have the same opportunities as others to participate fully in society.
The resolution calls on WHO to:
- provide technical assistance to Member States to implement the World report on disability;
- intensify collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
- ensure WHO technical work is inclusive of children and adults with disabilities;
- ensure that WHO itself is inclusive of people with disabilities as employees, collaborators and visitors.
It also requests the WHO Director-General to prepare a comprehensive WHO action plan in consultation with United Nations organizations and Member States based on the recommendations of the World report on disability and in line with the Convention. The WHO action plan should have measurable outcomes.
Consultation
As part of the process of developing an action plan to ensure better health for people with disabilities, WHO has launched an online consultation process until 11 October 2013. The online consultation is open to everyone involved and interested in improving health outcomes for people with disabilities. People with disabilities, disabled peoples’ organizations (DPOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) are particularly encouraged to submit their views on the draft plan, as are international development agencies and professional organizations and service providers involved in the delivery of rehabilitation services.
–> Access online consultation form
The draft action plan is available in Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish and Russian with Arabic coming soon. The draft action plan will also be available in international sign language.
WHO is organizing a series of global and regional consultations on the draft plan during the third quarter of 2013 with Member States, civil society organizations, disabled people’s organization, international agencies and other partners to gather input for the content. A zero draft of the plan was shared with key DPOs, CSOs and United Nations agencies during the 6th Conference of States Parties to the CRPD.
–> Consultation record: Disabled People’s Organizations and Civil Society Organizations, 18 July 2013
Timeline
Based on this extensive consultation process the draft WHO action plan will be revised before being submitted to the WHO Executive Board, to be discussed at its 134th session in January 2014 in preparation for consideration and approval by Member States at the 67th World Health Assembly in May 2014.
–> Timeline
For queries or comments, contact disabilityplan@who.int.
Source: http://who.int