Urgent and decisive action is needed to address the 14-year life expectancy gap currently experienced by people with disabilities. However, disability is generally a low priority for governments and global health funders across the world, with little dedicated funding or attention. This new Lancet Commission – the first focussed on Disability and Health – will generate action-orientated evidence to make the case for global health actors on why and how to include people with disabilities in health systems.
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is impossible to achieve without disability inclusion, since:
- There are 1.3 billion people with disabilities globally, equating to 16% of the population.
- People with disabilities experience more than double the mortality rate of others in the population, as well as higher prevalence of a range of morbidities (e.g. HIV, diabetes, malnutrition).
- Widespread barriers make it difficult for people with disabilities to access healthcare (e.g. inaccessible equipment and facilities, lack of knowledge of healthcare workers).
- Healthcare received by people with disabilities is often at higher cost and lower quality.
Health system therefore need to be strengthened to address these inequities, and to achieve the right to health for people with disabilities. Improvements are needed across the health system, including building accessible infrastructure, establishing inclusive policies, training healthcare workers on disability, and providing rehabilitation services and assistive Technology. However, disability remains a low priority in health systems.
This Commission will address fundamental evidence gaps in four key areas to inform a disability-inclusive health agenda and help achieve UHC. These include the following:
- Describing health inequalities experienced by people with disabilities summarising existing data and generating new data points and analytical approaches;
- Identifying evidenced-based interventions to improve access to healthcare and close the outcome gaps for people with disabilities;
- Exploring the political economy to understand why disability remains a low priority for governments and funders and identify potential levers for change;
- Unpacking economic implications of disability-inclusion in the health system, considering the cost and financing of inclusive care, as well as their benefits.
We will strive to produce a Commission that contributes to the creation of health systems that work better for people with disabilities, to truly achieve health for all.
List of Commissioners:
We have brought together an internationally diverse and multi-disciplinary group of Commissioners to lead this work. “Nothing about us, Without us”, is central to this Commission - people with disabilities are included as co-Chairs, Commissioners, advisors and researchers at every stage, and the methodology will include consultation with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs).
The Co-Chairs for the commission are:
- Professors Hannah Kuper and Tom Shakespeare (app of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine)
- Dr Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho (Uniting to Combat NTDs).
Commissioners are:
- Dr Ola Abu Alghaib, United Nations Global Disability Fund, USA.
- Dr Ian Forde, World Bank, Mozambique
- Professor Jill Hanass-Hancock, South Africa Medical Research Centre, South AFrica
- Professor Kara Hanson, app of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
- Dom Haslam, Sightsavers, UK
- Phyllis Heydt, Missing Billion Initiative, Kenya
- Professor Lisa Iezzoni, Harvard Medical School, USA
- Professor Anne Kavanagh, University of Melbourne, Australia
- Professor Monika Mitra, Brandeis University, USA
- Professor Sophie Mitra, Fordham University, USA
- Maureen Momanyi, UNICEF, USA
- Dr Daniel Mont, Center for Inclusive Policy, USA
- Dr Bolajoko Olusanya, Centre for Healthy Start Initiative, Nigeria
- Dr Adetokunbo Oshin, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, Switzerland
- Dr Monica Pinilla-Roncancio, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
- Dr Sara Rotenberg, app of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
- Frederic Seghers, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Belgium
- Dr Yusra Shawar, Johns Hopkins University, USA
- Professor Jeremy Shiffman, Johns Hopkins University, USA
- Professor Satendra Singh, University College of Medical Sciences, India
- Dr Tracey Smythe, app of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK and Stellenbosch University, South Africa
- Dr Helen Strongman, app of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
- Professor Bonnielin Swenor, Disability Health Research Center, Johns Hopkins University, USA
- Jose Viera, International Disability Alliance, Canada
- Dr Jane Wilbur, app of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
- Dr Dong Wook Shin, Samsung Medical Center, Sunkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Korea
Observers are:
- Kaloyan Kamenov, Disability Programme, World Health Organization
- Andrew Mirelman, World Health Organization
- Anna Vassall, World Health Organization
Supported by
The work of this Commission will be supported by:
- The Lancet
- Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
- Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office
- Krembil Foundation
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Udeok Foundation Korea
- Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity
Events
Our ambition is not only to produce high-quality evidence on disability-inclusive health systems, but also to inform policy and practice in ways that creates lasting, tangible change. We will therefore integrate broad-ranging dissemination and research uptake activities throughout the duration of the Commission.
Upcoming
- World Health Assembly - May 21, 2025 2-3:30pm Hotel Royal Geneva
Please join us for the kick-off event of the Commission “No health without inclusion”, held on May 21, 14:00-15:30 at Hotel Royal Geneva, in Geneva, as a side-event at the World Health Assembly. It is a panel discussion (including Co-Chairs, the Lancet, Commissioners, OPDs and Funders) followed by tea/coffee. RSVP .
Past
- Global Disability Summit Fireside Chat – April 3, 2025
We held a Fireside chat at GDS to gather feedback on the Lancet Commission on Disability and Health – the first of its kind. We shared the plan with attendees and got great feedback on how to strengthen the focus and engagement with the disability community.
Press
The National published this article about the Commission in June 2025: ''.