More than 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products, such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, or apps that support communication and cognition and yet a billion of them are denied access, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where access can be as low as 3% of the need for these life-changing products, said a report released on Monday by the World Health Organisation and UNICEF.
The “Global Report on Assistive Technology” presents evidence on the need for and access to assistive products and provides a series of recommendations to expand availability and access.
Rajib Dasgupta, chairperson at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University is one of the contributors to the report. Speaking about the condition in India, Dr. Dasgupta said that the 2011 Census puts the national estimate of the number of people with disabilities at 2.21% of the total population (26.8 million persons), including persons with visual, hearing, speech, locomotor and mental disabilities with the majority in the 19-59 age group.
