Disability
An estimated 1.3 billion people – or 1 in 6 people worldwide – experience significant disability.
Persons with disabilities die earlier, have poorer health, and experience more limitations in everyday functioning than the rest of the population due to health inequities.
These health inequities arise from unfair conditions that affect persons with disabilities disproportionally, including stigma, discrimination, poverty, exclusion from education and employment, and barriers faced in the health system itself.
Compared to persons without disabilities, some persons with disabilities:
- die up to 20 years earlier;
- have more than a double risk of developing comorbid conditions such as depression, asthma, diabetes, stroke, obesity or poor oral health;
- find inaccessible health facilities up to 6 times more hindering; and,
- are up to 15 times more limited by inaccessible and unaffordable transportation.
It is a state obligation, through the health sector in coordination with other sectors, to address existing health inequities so that persons with disabilities can enjoy their inherent right to the highest attainable standard of health. Disability inclusion is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and global health priorities of universal health coverage, protection in health emergencies and healthier populations. Acting to achieve health equity for persons with disabilities is acting to achieve Health for All.