Working in partnership
WHO Europe's initiative Better Health, Better Lives
Background
In 2008,WHO Europe launched the Better Health, Better Lives Initiative in response to increasing evidence of disproportionately poor health care for many children and young people experiencing intellectual disability across the European Region. WHO has produced, in consultation with various stakeholders including self-advocates, the Declaration Better Health, Better Lives: Children and Young People with Intellectual Disabilities and their Families. For more information please see http://www.euro.who.int/intellectual_disabilities.
Aim
The aim of the Better Health, Better Lives initiative is “to ensure that all children and young people with intellectual disabilities are fully participating members of society, living with their families, integrated in the community and receiving health care and support proportional to their needs.”
Priorities
The Draft Declaration and Action Plan sets out 10 Priorities for Member States in redressing this imbalance:
- Protect children and young people with intellectual disabilities from harm and abuse.
- Enable children and young people to grow up in a family environment.
- Transfer care from institutions to the community
- Identify the needs of each child and young person.
- Ensure that good quality mental and physical health care is coordinated and sustained.
- Safeguard the health and well-being of family carers.
- Empower children and young people with intellectual disabilities to contribute to decision-making about their lives.
- Build workforce capacity and commitment.
- Collect essential information about needs and services and assure service quality.
- Invest to provide equal opportunities and achieve the best outcomes.
Drafting the Declaration: A process
- Recognising the importance of Priority 7, which highlights the need to empower people with intellectual disabilities to fully participate and meaningfully contribute to decision-making about their lives, self-advocates have been involved in the drafting of the Declaration from its conception.
- First Meeting of the Steering Group was held on 18 February 2009 at the Open Society Institute in Budapest, Hungary.
- Second Meeting of the Steering Group was held on 16 December 2009 in London, United Kingdom.
- Representatives from international NGOs and DPOs attended a consultation session on the draft text in London in December 2009.
- Representatives of the Ministry of Health from Member States of WHO Europe discussed and agreed a revised draft Declaration in Belgrade during March 2010.
- The Declaration was officially launched and signed on behalf of all 53 member states of WHO’s European region in Bucharest on 26 – 27 November 2010.
Signing and Endorsement of the Declaration
The final draft of the Declaration was endorsed and signed in Bucharest on 26 – 27 November 2010. Official signatories include:
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Mr Attila Cseke, Minister of Health, Romania signed on behalf of all 53 states in WHO’s European region.
- Ms Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
- Mr Steven Allen, UNICEF Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Representatives of NGOs, DPOs, academic institutions and service providers are invited to endorse the Declaration in order to show their support and commitment to future action on the 10 priorities. Click here to read the endorsement statement and view the signatures collected to date.
To show your support by endorsing the Declaration, please send an email with your name, organisation’s name and e-signature or logo to BetterHealthBetterLives@lumos.org.uk
You can find the Declaration here.
