ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has taken a major step by including disabilities in the prime minister’s national programme, National Health Services (NHS) Minister Saira Afzal Tarar said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Regional Inter-Country Consultative Meeting on Improving Access to Assistive Technology in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Ms Tarar said the programme would provide beneficiaries with access to facilities and assistive products.

The three-day regional meeting has been organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Ms Tarar said the programme will provide people with wheelchairs, crutches, white canes, tripods, quadruped sticks, hearing aids and so on.

“Our governments have a responsibility to meet their global and regional commitments. In view of the evolving needs of populations, access to assistive technology is as important as access to other technologies,” she said.

The minister said that without assistive technology, people in need are often excluded, isolated and locked into poverty, and the burden of morbidity and disability increases.

Access to assistive technology should be an inherent component of universal health coverage and needs to be integrated into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

“The main goal is to obtain country perspectives on the proposed vision and strategies to ensure the provided guidance is feasible, relevant and can be effectively implemented at the country level in the Eastern Mediterranean Region,” she said.

She added: “We have come a long way, but there is much more to be done. Our mission will only be accomplished if each and everyone in need of assistive technology has access to these devices.”

It is estimated that 15pc of the world’s population – 1 billion people – live with some form of disability. In the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, approximately 3.2pc of the population have been reported to be living with disabilities; a figure the WHO has said is likely underestimated.

Assistive devices and technologies are those whose primary purpose is to maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence to facilitate participation and to enhance overall wellbeing.

Currently, it is estimated that in low-income and middle-income countries, only 5 to 15pc of people who require assistive devices and technologies have access to them.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2018