Without data, Women with disabilities’ SRH will suffer untold hardship- Yinka Olaito
Persons with disabilities in Nigeria and especially, women with disabilities face a lot of social and institutional challenges. While Nigeria had signed various international charters of rights of persons with disabilities and had actually enacted Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Acts 2018 with over 75% of its state governments enacted disability laws within the states, nothing much had changed.
A major problem facing implementation of the laws is the absence of data. While efforts are being made by various stakeholders to ensure accurate data are made available for planning, the speed of this is still snail-speed.
Many women with disabilities continue to suffer untold hardship when it comes to proper planning and assessing sexual reproductive health needs. Governments at every level seem to be missing the mark when it comes to inclusive health, a major part of a sustainable and inclusive society.
More than ever before, if Nigeria will meet the global demand of an inclusive and sustainable society, there is an urgent need for more publicity, awareness creation, sensitization, lobbying and full implementation of the national and state disability laws as well as their full domestication. To push for this, our ED, Yinka Olaito was on Wave FM 91.7 Portharcourt Nigeria on Wednesday July 31, 2024 during the Radio’s news segment from 6am, 12noon and 5pm
Here are some of things he emphasized
#Disabilitydata #Inclusion #Womenwithdisabilities #Sexualreproductivehealth The absence of credible and reliable data is a source of worry for persons with disabilities, (PWDs), in Nigeria.
In an interview on #Wave91.7fm Portharcourt as, the Executive Director of Centre for Disability and Inclusion Africa, I emphasized that the lack of data worsens hardships for individuals with disabilities in the country.
2. He urged proper data collection and documentation of persons with disabilities to plan and support inclusive development.
3-He also urged stakeholders involved in sustainable development to prioritize inclusivity by completely addressing the needs of individuals with disabilities.
4. He stressed that policymakers remain unaware of how to effectively plan and implement inclusive smart cities, worsening the
challenges faced by PWDs, especially women with disabilities