World Disability Report Launch Event

The World Disability Report, prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, was launched in Istanbul on February 9, 2012. The launch event was organized jointly by the Ministry of Family and Social Policy of Turkey, WHO and the World Bank.

At the intersection of public health, human rights and development, the World Disability Report, the first ever global report on disability, provides an overview of the status of disability in the world. It estimates that 15% of the world population—more than one billion people—is disabled, documents the many barriers the disabled face and the resulting poor social outcomes, and highlights the enormous potential of the disabled to contribute to economic and social development. To this end, the report provides the best available evidence on policies 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.

Fatma Åžahin, Minister of Family and Social Policy, delivered the key note speech at the launch event. The Minister emphasized the importance Turkey gives to addressing the rights and needs of its citizens with disability, in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Martin Raiser, Country Director of the World Bank said “Enabling people with disability to live to their full potential, with access to health, education, employment, and other services, and empowered to participate in their communities, is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do, in Turkey and around the world" during his opening remarks.

Dr. Maria Cristina Profili, Turkey Representative of the World Health Organization said "The World Disability Report tells us that people with disabilities make up one in seven of the population. Every family has a member with disabilities. This means that all our efforts— in health, but also in education, employment and other areas—should be inclusive of people with disabilities. Any one of us could become disabled at any time. So we must to do more to remove disabling barriers" during the opening remarks. More

The Launch event was followed by a conference on “Improving the Measurement of Disability and Ensuring an Enabling Environment: Lessons from International Experience" on February 10, 2012. During the conference, options for improving the measurement of disability and ensuring universal access of the disabled to the environment, transportation, information and communication were presented and discussed, building on what Turkey is doing and learning from good practices in other countries such as Brazil, Italy, Spain, the UK and South Africa. More