The International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) and the European Disability Forum (EDF) welcome the revision of the European Union (EU) Global Health Strategy. We see this revision as an important opportunity to ensure that the new strategy, and any related actions, are aligned with:

• the EU’s obligations as a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
• its global commitment to leave no one behind in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• the commitments the EU made at the Global Disability Summit
• the World Health Assembly Resolution on the highest attainable standard of health for persons with disabilities.

For these reasons, IDDC and EDF have submitted a joint position paper, calling on the EU to mainstream disability inclusion across all their priority areas, including:

1. Fully integrate disability inclusion within strategies aimed at the achievement of the health-related SDGs, and in particular Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
2. Strengthen inclusive health systems that provide access to general health care and specialised services and programmes related to disability-specific health requirements, across the spectrum of care and throughout the life course.
3. Ensure that it makes health equity and the inclusion of persons with disabilities an integral part of health emergency preparedness and response.
4. Create One Health interventions and solutions which are inclusive and supporting environments for all.
5. Engage civil society, in particular organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), in health-related policy design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
6. Ensure that all EU delegations are inclusive of and accessible to all persons with disabilities and include civil society and in particular OPDs in its dialogues with governments of partner countries.
7. Optimise the use of data on disability inclusion to inform health policies and investments.
8. Implement the OECD DAC disability policy marker to track development finance in support of persons with disabilities, including for health finance and investments.
9. Champion the rights of persons with disabilities in its multilateral, bilateral and regional cooperation and partnerships, and to ensure better coordination and joint approaches to act on commitments already made at the global and regional levels.