Photograph by Hamza Alzahran, SOI
For the second consecutive yr, Particular Olympics joined a consortium of worldwide well being leaders on the World Well being Summit (WHS) to spotlight the subject of incapacity inclusion in well being and advocate for the wants of individuals with disabilities. In the course of the WHS, held in Berlin, Germany, Particular Olympics, Clinton Well being Entry Initiative, the Worldwide Incapacity and Improvement Consortium, the London College of Hygiene and Tropical Drugs, the Lacking Billion Initiative, Sightsavers, and the World Well being Group (WHO) got here collectively to prepare and co-host a session, entitled “Well being Fairness for Individuals with Disabilities to Obtain Well being for All.”
All through the session, Particular Olympics Suriname Well being Messenger Rachel Veldkamp described her experiences navigating the healthcare system in Suriname. Rachel shared the stage with the Australian Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany; the WHO Assistant Director-Normal for Common Well being Protection, Communicable and Noncommunicable Ailments; representatives of governments and civil society; and friends with lived expertise of incapacity. In her remarks, Rachel underscored the significance of empowering folks with disabilities and the need of together with folks with disabilities in discussions associated to their well being.
In his closing assertion, Jarrod Clyne, Deputy Government Director of the Worldwide Incapacity Alliance, highlighted that Berlin will host one other vital occasion subsequent yr—the International Incapacity Summit—and echoed Rachel’s highly effective phrases: “We will do extra collectively than we will do alone.”
Rachel was simply one of many self-advocates and people with lived expertise of incapacity whom the consortium supported to attend the WHS and provides voice to their questions, calls for, and tales. Others included Moira Scott, a Particular Olympics Eire Well being Messenger; Haben Girma, a incapacity rights advocate and the primary Deafblind graduate of Harvard Legislation College, who moderated the panel; and Smitha Sadasivan, a member of the WHS 2024 Council. Particular Olympics is raring to proceed our monitor report of inclusion and collaboration to construct momentum and power round on the problem of well being fairness for folks with disabilities in 2025.
