Book Description

On 11 June 2019, the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) was launched by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. This strategy requires all UN entities to integrate disability inclusion into all aspects of their operational and programmatic work. To implement UNDIS in the organization, WHO Director-General launched the first-ever WHO Policy on Disability on December 3, 2020. The WHO Policy on Disability commits to ensuring that people with disability in all their diversity are meaningfully included in WHO as an organization and that disability is ingrained across all programmatic areas of work. The policy is grounded in the principles set out in WHO’s Constitution, most notably that ‘the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition’. It is also aligned with the Organization’s values which include commitments to human rights, universality, and equity, as well as to the UN values of integrity, professionalism, and respect for diversity. The document outlines the purpose of the policy, its scope, as well as the principles and approaches.