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	Health inequities lead to diminished life expectancy for many persons with disabilities by World Health Organization (WHO), agencies   Mar. 2023   Transformation of services for persons with disabilities - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Gerard Quinn.   There is a clear need to adopt a new philosophy to govern the design and delivery of support to persons with disabilities based on their moral agency, autonomy and social inclusion. States must transition away from service models based exclusively on impairment.   New kinds of partnerships are needed to realize this new philosophy. States must redefine the “public interest” and determine how to invest in and shape the provision of services. Support must shift from medically dominated systems that rely on coercion to support that is freely chosen.   Active consultation with persons with disabilities is therefore required, to determine what persons with disabilities need and want. The business sector must embrace its human rights responsibilities and become a partner for change.   Change requires a new lexicon that rejects labels such as “client”, “consumer” and “service user” and focuses on the core rights of citizenship.   Policy tools to manage change include supported decision-making models to create individualized support, peer support networks, independent living centres, standards for public procurement and contract compliance, competition law to create space for new market entrants, and new technology, including artificial intelligence.   The provision of support for families, collection of data on system performance, incentivization of new support providers, adoption of standards for service providers and enhancement of oversight and monitoring are likewise needed.   * Access the report: http://undocs.org/A/HRC/52/32   Dec. 2022   Health inequities lead to diminished life expectancy for many persons with disabilities   A new report by the World Health Organization shows evidence of a higher risk of premature death and illness among many persons with disabilities compared to others in the society.   The Global report on health equity for persons with disabilities shows that because of the systemic and persistent health inequities, many persons with disabilities face the risk of dying much earlier—even up to 20 years earlier—than persons without disabilities.   They have an increased risk of developing chronic conditions, with up to double the risk of asthma, depression, diabetes, obesity, oral diseases, and stroke. Many of the differences in health outcomes cannot be explained by the underlying health condition or impairment, but by avoidable, unfair and unjust factors.   Launched ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the report shows the number of people with significant disabilities worldwide has risen to 1.3 billion (or 1 in 6 people). This number reinforces the importance of achieving full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society and embedding the principles of inclusion, accessibility and non-discrimination in the health sector.   The report stresses the need for urgent action to address the vast inequities in health caused by unjust and unfair factors within health systems. These factors—which account for many of the differences in health outcomes between persons with and without disabilities—could take the form of:   Negative attitudes of healthcare providers, health information in formats that cannot be understood, or difficulties accessing a health centre due to the physical environment, lack of transport or financial barriers.   “Health systems should be alleviating the challenges that people with disabilities face, not adding to them,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.   “This report shines a light on the inequities that people with disabilities face in trying to access the care they need. WHO is committed to supporting countries with the guidance and tools they need to ensure all people with disabilities have access to quality health services.”   With an estimated 80% of persons with disabilities living in low- and middle-income countries where health services are limited, addressing health inequities could be challenging. Yet even with limited resources, much can be achieved.   Recognizing that everyone has the same right to the highest attainable standard of health, the report provides important economic analysis of adopting a disability-inclusive approach. It shows investing in a disability-inclusive health sector is cost-effective.   The report outlines 40 actions across the health sector for governments to take, drawing on the latest evidence from academic studies as well as consultations with countries and civil society, including organizations representing persons with disabilities.   Ensuring health equity for persons with disabilities will also have wider benefits and can advance global health priorities in a number of ways.   Health equity for all is critical towards achieving universal health coverage; inclusive public health interventions that are administered equitably across different sectors can contribute to healthier populations; and advancing health equity for persons with disabilities is a central component in all efforts to protect everyone in health emergencies.   “Addressing health inequities for persons with disabilities benefits everyone,” said Dr Bente Mikkelsen, WHO Director for Noncommunicable Diseases. “Older persons, people with noncommunicable diseases, migrants and refugees, or other frequently unreached populations, can benefit from approaches that target the persistent challenges to disability inclusion in the health sector.”   “We urge governments, health partners and civil society to ensure all health sector actions are inclusive of persons with disabilities so that they can enjoy their right to the highest standard of health.”   http://www.who.int/news/item/02-12-2022-health-inequities-lead-to-early-death-in-many-persons-with-disabilities http://www.who.int/activities/global-report-on-health-equity-for-persons-with-disabilities http://www.hi.org/en/news/hi-has-contributed-to-the-who-report-on-health-equity-for-people-with-disabilities http://www.hi.org/en/news/index http://www.unicef-irc.org/children-with-disabilities http://bit.ly/3UmdENa http://www.ohchr.org/en/disabilities Visit the related web page
	Small-scale farmers and peasants feed around 70 per cent of the world by UN independent human rights experts (OHCHR)   Dec. 2022   Despite recognition that peasants and rural workers are essential to providing everyone food and protecting the planet’s biodiversity, the world has treated them as expendable, UN experts said today.   Ahead of the 17 December anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, the experts made the following statement:   “Four years ago, the UN General Assembly recognised the past, present and future contributions of peasants and rural workers to global food security, development and environmental conservation and adopted a ground-breaking Declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas (UNDROP). Regrettably, they still lead a precarious existence.   While small-scale farmers and peasants feed around 70-80 per cent of the world, they shockingly represent 80 per cent of the world’s hungry and 70 per cent of those living in extreme poverty.   Besides their disproportionate exposure to environmental degradation, toxic substances, land grabbing and climate change, peasants and rural workers also suffer from the burdens caused by poverty, hunger and malnutrition.   More recently, their situation has become even more dire, due to the direct effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its subsequent harmful impact on food and cost-of-living crisis.   We commend peasants and rural workers across the world who have shown great resilience in the face of multiple challenges and intersectional oppression facing them and their communities. However, world governments must do more to protect, support and listen to peasants and rural workers.   The Declaration on the Rights of Peasants is a call for justice, based on the culmination of grievances and struggles of the world’s peasantry. It is also a plan of action for governments to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of peasants while also effectively regulating transnational corporations to prevent harm. It provides a framework to enable a just and sustainable transition to a food system where biodiversity and human rights flourish.   The current global crises make it more urgent than ever to enact the commitments of the Decalaration and fulfill everyone’s human rights.   We have witnessed some commendable efforts to incorporate UNDROP provisions in national laws and policies, in what is a unique and unprecedented opportunity to redress various forms of discrimination, systematic violations and historical disadvantage that have affected peasants and rural workers for many decades.   We therefore urge States to show leadership and implement the UNDROP by incorporating its norms and standards into national laws and policies. We also call on the United Nations agencies to support and empower peasants and rural workers throughout their work, both at policy and operational levels.   The Declaration provides not only a recognition of peasants’ and rural workers’ rights and contributions, but it also serves as a roadmap for States, the UN, business enterprises and other stakeholders to take concrete actions on the ground.”   http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/12/un-declaration-rights-peasants-un-experts-call-action-ahead-anniversary http://peasantjournal.org/news/working-paper-series-international-conference-on-global-land-grabbing-bogota-colombia/ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2024.2317961 http://viacampesina.org/en/peasant-agriculture-a-key-element-in-the-fight-against-the-climate-crisis/   * UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants: http://bit.ly/3Ijpzau Visit the related web page
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