Washington, DC, March 20, 2025 (PAHO)—The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) convened a regional virtual meeting with around 24 countries of the Americas to present the WHO Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with Disabilities and promote the dialogue around raising awareness of health equity for persons with disabilities.
During the meeting, they shared the best practices on disability inclusion in health programs, identified challenges and opportunities to improve health equity for persons with disabilities, and worked on making the disability agenda visible in the Region. The Disabilities Inclusion Guide for Action and toolkit was also presented and participants learned about the practical tools available to help identify needs and plan strategies to improve disability inclusion in their country.
Currently, it is estimated that approximately 1.3 billion people in the world live with at least one disability. Globally, persons with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier and have more than double the risk of suffering from diseases such as diabetes, depression, and stroke. Inequities also include having up to six times more difficulty accessing health facilities and up to 15 times more difficulty accessing transportation. In the Americas, with 19.4% of the population living with disability, the trend is no different, and NCDs being the leading cause of death and disability.
This was a great opportunity for knowledge exchange among participants, who included PAHO Disability Focal Points at the Country Office level and Representatives of the Ministries of Health and Disability National Secretariats across different countries of the Region, such as El Salvador, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Barbados, Uruguay, Jamaica, Panama, and Grenada, among others.
Strengthening PAHO's commitment to supporting countries to achieve more significant health equity for persons with disabilities, the organization has developed a series of policies and action plans, including a Plan of Action on Disabilities and Rehabilitation, Technical documents, and guides to support countries in promoting disability inclusion and continuously collaborates with member countries to strengthen their health systems and improve access to health services for persons with disabilities.
Despite the work done, the Region has immense challenges to overcome. PAHO advocates integrating disability inclusion to strengthen its presence among all agencies and sectors responsible for designing and implementing health policies. It is also important to train all health professionals in the field of disability, especially those who work in primary health care.
The Spanish version of the Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with disabilities will be launched later in 2025 and will serve Spanish-speaking countries in the Region as an overview of the global situation of disabilities to accelerate conversations and actions toward strengthening access to health services for persons with disabilities.
