Increase Focus On Disability, Or Targets For Millennium Development Goals Will Not Be Met, Says Global Health Expert

Main Category: Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Article Date: 20 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PST

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"Disability has to be addressed if the Millennium Development Goals are to be achieved," says Beth Fuller, Disability Program Coordinator of the University of Melbourne's Nossal Institute for Global Health.

Ms Fuller will present the issue alongside other Australian and global health experts at the 4th annual Nossal Institute Global Health Forum held today at the University of Melbourne.

The forum has attracted leaders from the World Health Organization, World Bank, AusAID, Oxfam, World Vision and notaries from the Asia Pacific region.

The World Bank estimates that 20% of the world's poorest people are disabled.

"There are approx 650 million people who live with a disability worldwide, and 80% of these people live in developing countries (UNDP). They are viewed as the world's largest minority, "Ms Fuller said.

"For decades, development programs around the world have failed to adequately address the needs of this vast and highly marginalized proportion of the population, "she said.

"Disability has been seen as a specialist area. But there is increasing recognition of the need to mainstream disability within development programs and policies in all sectors. "

"This is clearly outlined in Article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities," she said.

The Millennium Development Goals include goals such as poverty eradication, universal primary education, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS.

"Given the huge impact of disability on poverty, the fact that 35% of the world's children who are not in school have impairments, the greatly increased mortality rates amongst children with disabilities, and the studies that are starting to show the significant vulnerability of HIV transmission to people with disabilities - it is clear that without a dramatically increased focus on the issue of disability, the targets for the MDGs will not be met," she said.

The World Bank's Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, Senior Operations Officer - Disability, is a key note speaker at the Forum.

"What we want to achieve is inclusive development and recognition that disability is a cross-cutting issue - relevant to health, education and the labour market. It's about social inclusion and about developing good policies that include and recognize vulnerability and all marginalized communities, "she said.

"For example, when we look at gender or child protection, there should be disability aspects to those as well."

"The World Bank has been playing a lead role in disability and development as well as health financing and it's exciting that the Nossal Institute is convening this meeting," says Professor Graham Brown, Director of the Nossal Institute for Global Health.

"A key role of the Nossal Institute is to build the capacity of the development sector in Australia and partners in the Asia Pacific region, and to build the evidence base around effective practice so that programs are inclusive of disability", he said.

BIOS

Beth Fuller

Beth Fuller is the Disability Program Coordinator at the Nossal Institute for Global Health. She established the program, developed the post-graduate subject Disability in Developing Countries and coordinates a network of disability in development professionals. She originally trained as an Occupational Therapist and then later completed a Master in Public Health, researching adolescent health in the Pacific. In Bangladesh she was the head of Occupational Therapy services at a rehabilitation organization, as well as teaching and developing the curricula for the bachelor degree in OT in the Bangladesh Health Professions Institute. She worked in Northeast India as the Associate Team Leader on a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded program on HIV prevention amongst injecting drug users, sex workers and men-who-have-sex-with-men.

Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo

Ms McClain-Nhlapo trained as a human rights lawyer before working in the South African Presidency as Legal Advisor and as a principal author of the Integrated National Disability Strategy. She was appointed by President Mandela to the South African Human Rights Commission. In 2004 Ms McClain-Nhlapo joined the World Bank as a senior operations specialist, working in the East Asia, Pacific and African regions, with particular interest in marginalized groups: children, women and people with disabilities. She served as an expert on a number of UN Committees on child rights, the right to food and the rights of people with disabilities.

4th Annual Nossal Global Health Forum