In Angola, more than 656,000 people have some type of disability, representing 2.5 percent of the total population, currently estimated at 35 million inhabitants, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The information was provided by the Secretary of State for the Family and Women’s Promotion, Alcina Cunha Kindanda, who heads the Angolan multisectoral delegation present at the 28th session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, taking place in Geneva, until the 24th of this month.
According to the official, more than 50 percent of Angolans with disabilities live in urban areas and physical disability is what most affects this group of citizens. Among people with disabilities, 56% are men and 44% are women. Of these, 46% are aged between 25 and 64 years.
In order to serve this portion of the population, the manager said that “various sectors continue to develop actions that guarantee greater and better social inclusion of people with disabilities in various areas and since the achievement of effective peace in 2022, Angola has become a country with a vocation for peace and stability and committed to the promotion and protection of human rights”.
The information is contained in the report presented by the Angolan delegation at the event, which also points out that “new challenges have arisen, which have led the Angolan Government to adopt an institutional posture of proximity, interaction, inclusion and participation with all stakeholders, with a view to creating policies and strategies in a multidisciplinary, concerted, coherent and global way”.
However, according to Alcina Cunha Kindanda, Angola has achieved improvements in relation to the process of social inclusion of people with disabilities with “the Constitution enshrining principles and norms that establish differentiated treatment for citizens, treated by the constitutional text as people with disabilities”, in addition to several actions that are being implemented by the Executive and civil society organizations.
Causes of disability in Angola
Among the causes of people with disabilities in the country, the head of the Angolan delegation highlighted the existence of a high number of landmines, resulting from the period of armed conflict, with Angola being one of the countries with the highest number of landmines.
The list of the main causes also includes road accidents, which have grown dramatically in recent years and which is the leading cause of disability in Angola and the second cause of death.
“Other causes have to do with sequelae of some illnesses and congenital causes, lack of knowledge of prevention mechanisms and veiled attitudes towards disability”, he informed.
