Making accessible telehealth services for persons with disabilities

Making accessible telehealth services for people with disabilities means unlocking access for 1 in 6 people worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the unprecedented use of telehealth services. Yet, these services still remain inaccessible for many people with disabilities, which hinders their access to fair healthcare and negatively impacts their health.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) are collaborating to ensure that the digital transformation of the health sector takes into account the needs of people with disabilities.

The WHO-ITU Global standard for accessibility of telehealth services, published in 2022, provides recommendations for accessibility features that must be used in telehealth services to address the barriers commonly faced by people with disabilities.

The WHO-ITU Implementation toolkit for accessible telehealth services, published in 2024, is a tool to support WHO Member States, industry, health services providers and civil society on how to integrate accessibility in their existing strategic processes for telehealth service development.

Everyone involved in the digital transformation of health systems has the potential to make healthcare more accessible to millions of people worldwide. Making telehealth services accessible will also benefit other marginalized populations such as older people, people with low digital and health literacy, migrants and refugees.