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Elizabeth Andreya Features Writer
Most young Zimbabweans with disabilities, especially those in rural areas still find it difficult to access Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) services and information. Strengthening access to SRHR services for young people with disabilities, including adolescent girls and young people in rural communities is an indispensable urgent requirement to ensure the health agenda leaves no one behind.
The World Health Organisation report (2011) states that about 15 percent of the world’s population lives with some form of disability, of whom 2-4 percent experience significant difficulties in functioning.
According to the 2013 National Survey on Living Conditions among Persons with Disabilities in Zimbabwe, the prevalence of disability in the country is estimated to be seven percent, amounting to approximately 914 287 persons based on the total Zimbabwe population of 13 061 239 (Zimbabwe 2012 Population Census).
Recently, a non-governmental organisation called Restless Development, in partnership with Deaf Zimbabwe Trust, Elevation Zimbabwe, Youth Aspire Development Trust, Yes Trust Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Youth Council and Youth Advocates Zimbabwe held a national dialogue to enhance access to SRHR services and information for young people living with disability.
The dialogue advocated for improved SRHR services to young people, particularly those with disability and support expansion and improvement of SRHR services and products for young people with disabilities in Zimbabwe.
A representative from Deaf Zimbabwe Trust said it was difficult for the deaf to access SRHR services as there were no friendly centres for them.
“If you go to health centres seeking SRHR services, we are usually told to bring our own interpreters to speak for us and it is expensive to pay the interpreter, therefore, we can’t access the services.
“Sometimes the service providers make fun of us and we are not being given our privacy. They say we should not engage in sexual activities, as if we are not humans,” he said.
Empirical evidence shows that young people with disabilities are at a higher risk of contracting HIV, sexual abuse and exploitation due to their exclusion and limited access to SRHR information and services.
The sexual rights of young people with disabilities are further compromised by factors such as negative attitudes of family and society and cruel religious and cultural practices, cultural beliefs which still regard them as not sexually active.
Zimbabwe has policies that speak on disability, however, they are not fully implemented.
Health and well-being of all citizens is an indivisible human right for all, particularly for young people with disabilities as stipulated under the Section 76 of the country’s Constitution, which states that, “Every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has the right to have access to basic health-care services, including reproductive healthcare services.”
The Sustainable Development Goal 3, target 7 calls for the accelerated access to SRHR services for all.
Therefore, denying young people with disabilities sexual and reproductive health rights services is a form of discrimination and human right violation under the stipulated SRHR policies and social protection systems, and most importantly the Zimbabwean Constitution.
People with disabilities are also not able to access SRHR services because of lack of information concerning the services.
It is also their right to access information like everyone else.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health should facilitate the provision of interpreters trained in meaningful youth engagement and with capacity to interpret SRHR challenges faced by young people with disability in all clinics in a professional and youth-friendly way as currently, attitudes by some health workers are a barrier to people with disabilities.
It is crucial for the portfolio committee on health to ensure that the health delivery system is able to respond in an appropriate, positive and timely manner to their needs.
More so, to ensure that the needs of young people with disabilities are fulfilled, they should also participate in planning, implementation and accountability of SRHR issues affecting them.
Research has indicated that they are not consulted or involved in decision making process, monitoring, and evaluation and planning of SRHR services.
The Government should also ensure access to free SRHR services, including all family planning, HIV testing and cancer screening for all young people, including those with disabilities. User fees should be removed as most of the young people are not employed and cannot afford to pay the fees.
Increase in access to SRHR services and information for young people with disabilities will make a contribution to progress across all the SRHR national targets, strategies, policies and goals.
Government should also prioritise solving the pressing and emerging issues that are impending the full realisation of young people with disabilities’ access to sexual reproductive health rights in Zimbabwe, who, from empirical evidence, are sidelined and are at the brink of being silenced.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls on states to promote inclusive development that recognises the right of persons with disabilities to equal access to education and employment among other things.
It sets targets for state action to eliminate violence against all girls and women, including those with disabilities, and to ensure access to SRHR services and education for all.
Through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the global community has committed to leave no one behind.
To make this commitment a reality for young persons with disabilities, governments must invest in young people and ensure that young persons with disabilities have the opportunities, knowledge and skills they need to live healthy, fulfilled, and productive lives.
There is, therefore, a need for holistic and sustainable solutions that accelerate increased access to SRHR services for young people with disabilities.
Online Reporter