A Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO), Voice of Disability Initiative (VDI), has distributed sanitary pads, food items to 160 physically challenged girls, women, in Enugu to cushion the effect of economic hardship.
The group carried out the distribution during a One-Day Sensitisation programme on “Sexual And Productive Health And Rights for Women with Disabilities” in Enugu on Wednesday.
Some of the items shared include sanitary pads, rice, indomie and cash.
Speaking during the training, the Executive Director, VDI, Mrs Catherine Edeh, said the organisation was partnering the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Enugu State Chapter, to sensitise disabled women in Enugu.
She added that the programme was being supported and funded by Amplify Change, a United Kingdom based organisation that champion the issue of persons with disabilities.
Edeh explained that with the programme over, 160 disability clusters in Enugu state were educated on reproductive health and sexual rights.
“The programme also features free HIV counseling and testing for the women,” she said.
She commended the efforts of Enugu State Government in providing the legal framework for the protection of rights of persons with disabilities through the enactment of Discrimination against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Law in 2023.
Edeh however lamented the absence of Disability Commission to oversee the affairs of persons with disabilities in Enugu State.
She noted that the absence of Disability Support Desks and Sign Language Interpreters in Government Hospitals had further compounded access to healthcare services for women and girls with disabilities in the state.
“There is need to integrate vulnerable populations, especially people with disabilities in the development agenda of Enugu State government by establishing a Disability Commission to be domiciled directly under the Executive Governor of Enugu State,” she said.
In a remark, Comrade Onyebuchi Mbah, the Chairman, (JONAPWD, Enugu Chapter, said disabled girls and women had right to live and enjoy.
He said that most often able people who claimed to help these women turn around to abuse them.
“So because of that, we are here to educate our women to know their rights. To stand and say no to anything that is infringing their human and sexual rights
“We have 160 women drawn across disabilities groups namely the physically challenged, spinal cord injured, blind, deaf, leprosy and albinoism,” he said.
Speaking on behalf the beneficiaries, Women Leader, JONAPWD, Enugu State, Ms Chidimma Obikwelu, thanked Edeh for sensitising them on their reproductive health and sexual rights.
“We are honoured to receive this type of knowledge impacted in us. She had been involving us in most of her programmes. So we are happy with her wonderful programme,” she said.
Group distributes sanitary pads, food items to 160 disabled women in Enugu
