The first ever World report on disability, produced jointly by WHO and the World Bank provides the best available evidence about what works to overcome barriers to health care, rehabilitation, education, employment, and support services, and to create the environments which will enable people with disabilities to flourish. The report ends with a concrete set of recommended actions for governments and their partners https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241564182

This pioneering World report on disability will make a significant contribution to implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At the intersection of public health, human rights and development, the report is set to become a “must have” resource for policy-makers, service providers, professionals, and advocates for people with disabilities and their families.

– Accessible versions and language versions can be accessed here

Key facts

• 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. This represents 16% of the world’s population, or 1 in 6 of us.
• Some persons with disabilities die up to 20 years earlier than those without disabilities.

Persons with disabilities 

• Have generally poorer health, lower education achievements, fewer economic opportunities and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities due to the lack of services available to them and the many obstacles they face in their everyday lives
• Have twice the risk of developing conditions such as depression, asthma, diabetes, stroke, obesity or poor oral health.

• Face many health inequities.
• Find inaccessible and unaffordable transportation 15 times more difficult than for those without disabilities.
• Face unfair conditions (stigma, discrimination, poverty, exclusion from education and employment, barriers in the health system) arising health inequities