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Wheelchairs in Africa: Addressing Article 20 of the Disability Rights Treaty
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | October 26, 2008
In low-income countries, the overwhelming majority of people who need wheelchairs don’t have one. This has a profound impact on their ability to lead independent lives–or even leave their own homes. This also would be a violation of Article 20 of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which protects the human right of people with disability to mobility aids and training. Participants in a recent conference in Africa exchanged ideas and knowledge on how to address this challenge.
The 4th All Africa Wheelchair Congress Report (PDF format, 446 Kb) can now be downloaded for free on-line. The report summarizes a series of remarks, panel discussions, and other conference sessions on how to promote appropriate wheelchair services across the African continent. The report also presents a list of resolutions made on the last day of the Congress. The 4th All Africa Wheelchair Congress was held in September 2007 in Tanzania.
The Pan Africa Wheelchair Builders Association (PAWBA) and the Tanzanian Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists (TATCOT) facilitated the congress. Co-funders included the World Health Organisation, ABILIS, Motivation Africa, Christoffel Blindenmission (CBM), and SINTEF. The 116 participating members came from Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, UK, Norway and USA.
The previous three All Africa Wheelchair Congresses were held in Zambia (2003); Kenya (1998); and Zimbabwe (1995). Each congress was a landmark in developing appropriate and affordable wheelchair products and services in Africa in allowing participants to exchange knowledge across the continent. PAWBA was formed at the 2003 Congress.
You can download the full, 47-page 4th All Africa Wheelchair Congress report in PDF format (446 Kb) at:
http://www.independentliving.org/docs7/pawba-tatcot200709.pdf
Learn more about the CRPD and Optional Protocol by skimming the RatifyNow FAQ and the Optional Protocol.
Find out if your country has signed or ratified the CRPD at http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166
Learn how you can become involved with the global campaign to promote the ratification and implementation.
A similar version of this blog post was previously posted at the We Can Do blog; it is cross-posted here with permission of author.
Topics: Disability Rights -- General |
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