(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The Ministry of Health's (MoH) participation in a regional consultation this month will help the country further improve the facilities it has provided to the disabled.
''It is a regional consultation where we will speak about all the efforts undertaken by Oman towards betterment of facilities for the disabled and how we can improve it further. The sultanate has taken several steps for the social, economic, educational and cultural rights of the disabled,'' Majida al Balushi, head of rehabilitation services, MoH, said.
The census of 2010 stated that there are 62,506 people with disability in Oman. ''That is the latest figures we have. Of this, 33,787 were male and 28,719 were female. Also, 4.8 per cent of the total disability was caused due to road traffic accidents,'' she said.
''At the meeting, each country will discuss what it has done for the betterment of disabled people. Oman has undertaken major programmes to enable them to achieve their full potential and have the same opportunities as others. A national panel has been formed that monitors all welfare activities undertaken for the disabled. A law was also framed for their welfare and rehabilitation,'' she said.
The consultation will bring together regional and global experts to discuss a World Health Organization (WHO) action plan based on the 'World Report on Disability' and which is in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the report of the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on disability.
The meeting is one of numerous activities planned by WHO to implement the recent World Health Assembly resolution on disability.
The resolution calls on WHO to provide technical support to member states to implement the World Report on Disability, intensify collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ensure WHO technical work is inclusive of children and adults with disabilities, ensure that WHO itself is inclusive of people with disabilities as employees, collaborators and visitors.
NO OF DISABLED (2010 CENSUS)
AGE GROUP TOTAL NUMBER TOTAL NUMBER
OF OMANIS OF?DISABLED
BELOW 5 YEARS 263,529 1,449
5-14 YEARS 427,172 5,995
15-24 YEARS 484,440 9,482
25-44 YEARS 533,470 12,607
45-64 YEARS 180, 044 14,092
ABOVE 65 YEARS 68,681 18,881
TOTAL 1,957,336 62,506
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