Dr. Rödiger-Vorwerk, Head of Economy, Trade, Employment and Digitalization at BMZ, speaks on Germany’s commitment to disability-inclusive health and development.

At the World Health Summit in Berlin, a striking truth set the tone: “One in six people are excluded.” The figure refers to 1.3 billion persons with disabilities worldwide who continue to face barriers in accessing health services. Despite decades of progress, deep inequities in prevention, care, and inclusion persist. The session, titled “Bridging the Disability Inclusion Gap,” brought together global health leaders, government representatives, and persons with disabilities to confront a stark truth: unless the world closes the health gap for persons with disabilities, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will remain elusive dreams. Furthermore, the session highlighted, now is the time for globally coordinated action—a movement for health equity for persons with disabilities.

From Invisibility to a Global Movement

Valentino Vergotine, a Special Olympics athlete and coach from South Africa, opened with a story of nearly drowning as a child and a lifetime of resilience. Today, he is a decorated national champion, yet he still meets barriers at health facilities. “When I go to the clinic, people look at me and ask, ‘Can’t you read or write?” he said. “I tell them I have a disability in reading and writing, and I need help filling out the forms. Sometimes they understand. Sometimes they don’t.” His words captured the human face of systemic failure and showed that behind every statistic is a person forced to explain and sometimes plead for dignity. “We need to focus on ability, not disability.” His call was simple: that inclusion must begin with dignity, not doubt, and that we must not forget those whose needs are less visible.

Valentino’s story is not an exception; it is a signal of a persistent global gap in equitable care. While countries have celebrated major victories against HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and cancer, millions of people living with disabilities often remain excluded from these gains. In clinics and communities across continents, they are too often the last to be reached and the first to be forgotten. Research shows they are nearly twice as likely to develop chronic illnesses and can die up to two decades earlier than their peers. For women and girls, the situation is even more serious; they are three times more likely to miss out on the healthcare they need, including sexual and reproductive services. Across every part of health systems, key policies, investments and services have left them behind.

 From empathy to accountability

Against this backdrop, Dr. Tania Rödiger-Vorwerk, Deputy Director General for Global Health at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), underscored the reality: “Healthcare is often out of reach. Even when services exist, people with disabilities receive lower-quality care. This is a reality we cannot accept.” Rödiger-Vorwerk spoke both as a policymaker and as a relative of a person with a disability, and emphasized, “Many families know these struggles intimately. It’s personal. And it’s political.”

She highlighted Germany’s role in the Global Disability Summit, including the Amman-Berlin Declaration, which for the first time sets a measurable target: by 2028, at least 15 percentof international development programs at country level should focus on disability inclusion. Over 100 governments, UN agencies, and development banks have already signed on. Pairing the voice of persons with disabilities with the convening and funding power of governments and backed by civil society and academia, the Global Disability Summit represented an inflection point. “This is how we move from empathy to accountability,” Rödiger-Vorwerk said. “We are not talking about charity. We are talking about justice.”

A global movement

As discussions shifted from policy commitments to implementation, Darryl Barrett of the World Health Organization outlined a new approach to closing the health gaps faced by persons with disabilities. He introduced the WHO Disability Health Equity Initiative, designed to integrate inclusion into the core of health systems.  “This is not a side project,” Barrett said. “It’s about weaving disability inclusion into the fabric of every health system.” At its heart, the initiative rests on four pillars: leadership by persons with disabilities, higher political prioritization, accessible health systems, and better data and information. One of the key components of the initiative is a global stakeholder network, which hosts Member States, civil society, organizations of persons with disabilities, UN agencies, academia and private sector. More than 1,000 organizations have expressed interest, and 146 have already become members.

Seeing the margins to serve the whole

Further highlighting the urgency of a global movement for health equity for persons with disabilities, Dr. Ebere Okereke, of the Mohammed Bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, emphasized a foundational issue: “We can’t fix what we can’t see.” Most countries lack reliable data on disability for planning and accountability. The Foundation supports the Lancet Commission on Disability and Health and urges partners to systemically collect and use disability-disaggregated data. “When you design for the margins,” she said, “you improve care for everyone.” This approach illustrates the need for a variety of stakeholders to come together to share, learn, plan, coordinate, and act—and the power inherent in this approach.

Inclusion across the continuum of care

Furthering the case for a global movement, Anamaria Bejar, Director of Public Policy Engagement at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, acknowledged a critical gap in global immunization efforts. Since 2000, Gavi’s partnerships have helped vaccinate more than 1.2 billion children and save millions of lives, yet disability inclusion is still not formally integrated into its funding models. Bejar noted a 14-percent immunization gap between children with and without disabilities and urged the need to apply a ‘disability lens’ across all policies and programs. “Health equity will not be achieved if we don’t include people with disabilities,” she said, calling for stronger integration of inclusion principles in every aspect of Gavi’s work, from community engagement to policy design.

Bejar’s call for true inclusion was supported by Dr.Karen Reyes, Senior Program Manager at ATscale, the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology, who emphasized the role of assistive technology in making healthcare accessible and its crucial role in the global movement to advance health equity for persons with disabilities. She said, “A wheelchair brings a person to care, hearing aids make the consultation meaningful, and communication devices bring a voice to care”. Yet, nine out of ten people in low-income countries lack access: “That’s not a technical failure, it’s an equity failure”, she outlined. Dr. Reyes further explained that ATscale’s mission is to make assistive technology available, affordable, and sustainable through system-level reform. One of its flagship initiatives spans seven Pacific Island countries, supporting early screening for hearing, vision, and mobility challenges in children. “We’re not just distributing devices,” she said. “We’re strengthening systems from training health workers to building referral networks, so inclusion becomes the norm, not the exception.”

Local realities and the call for empowerment

Turning the focus to local realities, Abayneh Gujo Desta, Executive Director of the Federation of Ethiopian Associations of Persons with Disabilities, shared the challenges persons with disabilities are facing in Ethiopia. “Ethiopia has more than 23 million people with disabilities,” he noted, “yet we still lack a national disability policy,” he said. Although Ethiopia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 15 years ago, progress has been slow. Ethiopia also has not yet ratified the Africa Disability Protocol. “Without clear policies and sustained political commitment from the government, there will no progressive change in disability inclusive initiatives,” We cannot afford to let disability rights remain confined to paper. Abayneh stated, “We have laws on paper but not the leadership to bring them to life. He highlighted that WHO’s technical assistance to the government, complemented by on-the-ground coordination between organizations of persons with disabilities and civil society, is a step in the right direction. His appeal to the international community was direct: “Don’t just discuss inclusion in Geneva or Washington. Invest in organizations of persons with disabilities and empower them to drive change from within.”

From words to action

The session closed with a shared commitment and call to action for everyone, in every  geographic location or type of organization, to reimagine global health systems through an inclusive lens. As the WHO’s Darryl Barrett reminded the audience, “This is not about creating special systems for special people, it’s about building health systems that work for everyone.” The next step is translating commitments into action at every level – from global frameworks to national budgets, from community clinics to data dashboards. I. WHO’s Disability Health Equity Initiative exists to support, foster, and accelerate this work.

José Viera, Executive Director of the International Disability Alliance, reiterated the urgency, emphasizing that inclusive health is not only a smart or moral approach but an urgent one. “If persons with disabilities are still dying up to 20 years earlier than others, that is not something the world can accept,” he said. He stated that real progress requires meaningful participation and political commitment and urged greater investment in organizations of persons with disabilities to enable change from within. “The solution is not impossible,” Viera concluded. “With the right investments and leadership, inclusion can become the norm, not the exception.”

This session was co-hosted by Christian Blind Mission (CBM), Global Partnership for Assistive Technology (ATscale), Humanity & Inclusion, International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC), Sightsavers, Special Olympics, World Health Organization (WHO)

November 2025