7. In line with commitments to systematically integrate disability in all programme areas, this Policy on Disability leverages WHO's contributions to the field of disability globally. Some examples are: the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health,[1] endorsed in 2001, which provides an international standard for describing and measuring health and disability; the Organization's Global Disability Action Plan 2014–2021,[2] endorsed by Member States in 2014, which calls for improvements in access to health services and programmes, extension of rehabilitation, assistive devices and support services, and enhanced collection of relevant and internationally comparable data on disability; the Model Disability Survey,[3] which provides comprehensive information about disability for the strengthening of policies and services, and for monitoring progress towards obligations under the SDGs and the CRPD; the WHO QualityRights initiative[4] which seeks to improve access to quality mental health and social services and promote the rights of people with psychosocial, intellectual and cognitive disability around the world; the Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE) initiative which supports countries to address challenges and improve access to assistive products within their context, implementing the World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on assistive technology adopted in 2018;[5] and the World Report on Disability,[6] launched in 2011, which expanded information, statistics and analysis of the situation of people with disability, established disability as a critical developmental issue, and was a catalyst to ensuring the inclusion of people with disability in the global development agenda.
Further information is available at the WHO Disability Programme webpage.
[1] World Health Organization, International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: ICF, Geneva: World Health Organization, 2001, available at: https://www.who.int/classifications/icf/en/
[2] World Health Organization, WHO Global Disability Action Plan 2014-2021, Geneva: World Health Organization, 2015, available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-global-disability-action-plan-2014-2021
[3] World Health Organization & The World Bank, Model Disability Survey, Geneva: World Health Organization, available at: https://www.who.int/disabilities/data/mds/en/
[4] World Health Organization, WHO QualityRights Initiative, Geneva: World Health Organization, available at: https://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/quality_rights/en/
[5] Improving access to assistive technology, 26 May 2018, WHA71.8.
[6] World Health Organization & The World Bank, World Report on Disability, Geneva: World Health Organization, 2011, available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/world-report-on-disability
