Raising the level of inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly

Every year, representatives from ministries of health from around the world gather in Geneva, Switzerland for the World Health Assembly (WHA) – the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition to the official World Health Assembly proceedings in the prestigious Palace of NationsThe global health community takes advantage of this relationship between influencers and decision makers to host numerous meetings and events to highlight important health issues.

On the sidelines of this year’s World Health Assembly, Special Olympics teamed up with a host of organizations – ATScale, the Missing Billion Initiative, Reaching the Last Mile, the McKinsey Health Institute, the Clinton Access to Health Initiative, and the London School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine – in an event supported by the World Health Assembly. Global health. German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), entitled “Disability-inclusive health in practice: moving from awareness to action”.

Based on the words of Dr. Katja Bölmann from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, “Inclusion of persons with disabilities is not an act of charity, but a condition for success.” The event brought together experts from various sectors with strong recommendations and best practices to move health systems from inclusive policy to practice. Inclusive. “Policies are processes, not outcomes,” stressed Dr. Dimitri Christakis, Special Olympics’ chief health officer. Although necessary, they are not sufficient to ensure health equity. Often times, the things that are easiest to measure are not necessarily the most important.”

The session addressed a number of barriers faced by people with disabilities, the most prevalent of which were stigma and attitudes of healthcare workers. Dr. Israel Balogun, a physician who has also lived experience of disability, reflects on the limited exposure to disability-related content during his medical training, as well as how ignorance and attitudes accelerate the spread of disease and widen disparities among people with disabilities. In contrast, stimulating examples of the adoption of healthcare professional training modules and community health worker training in countries such as Indonesia and Kenya have shown promise for training providers not only to improve the quality of care, but also to impact early detection and cure rates. Intervention for children with disabilities.

Ms. Tala Al Ramahi, from Reaching the Last Mile – an organization that includes a range of global health programs led by the philanthropy of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates – provided further evidence of how Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 It served as a catalyst to help recognize and begin to address stigma in the UAE. As a result, an innovative model of training and care called Unified Healthcare was developed and widely disseminated by Special Olympics UAE to individual healthcare providers, practices, clinics and large hospitals across the emirate, positively impacting provider efficiency and patient experiences.

Another major impediment addressed by the committee was financing mechanisms, many of which interfere with or stifle the ability to achieve progressive policies. Dr. Christakis stressed that financial incentives (or disincentives) are the main driver. “Providing care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is not compensated fairly. Instead of using financial incentives to promote equity, we use them to promote inequality. How would the world be different if we flipped the financial model so that patients with IDD no longer try to communicate Finding doctors willing to see them out of charity, but rather doctors trying to find patients with disabilities because their care was appropriately remunerated? Reimagining these financial models will ultimately lead to improved health outcomes for people with disabilities but will require a major commitment to changing finances And the current model.

In conjunction with Special Olympics Rosemary Cooperative ProjectThis event and collaboration are part of Special Olympics’ ongoing efforts to advocate for and support comprehensive health reforms — changes that help strengthen the conditions for people with ID to achieve the best health possible.