An estimated 1.3 billion people, or one in six people worldwide, live with a significant disability.
Health inequalities mean that people with disabilities die earlier than others, experience poorer health and experience more limitations in their daily lives.
These health inequalities stem from unfair conditions that disproportionately affect people with disabilities, including stigma, discrimination, poverty, exclusion from education and employment, and barriers faced by the health system itself.
Compared to people without disabilities, some people with disabilities have the following characteristics:
They die up to 20 years earlier; are more than twice as likely to develop comorbid conditions such as depression, asthma, diabetes, stroke, obesity and poor oral health; are up to six times more likely to have difficulty accessing health facilities; and are up to 15 times more likely to be limited by unavailable and expensive transport.
It is incumbent on States to ensure that the health sector works in partnership with other sectors to address existing health disparities and ensure that people with disabilities enjoy their inherent right to the highest attainable standard of health. Inclusion of people with disabilities is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the global health priorities of universal health coverage, protection in health emergencies and healthier populations. To act to achieve health equity for people with disabilities is to act to achieve health for all.