Research Findings; CBC Health Services, Partners Assess Barriers Limiting Access of Women and Girls with Disabilities to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services
The CBC Health Services in collaboration with the Liliane Foundation and the Radboud University together with academic partners in Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Uganda have shared findings of a research study on the challenges faced by women and girls with disabilities in accessing sexual and reproductive health services as well as the role of Associations of Parents of Children with Disabilities (APCWD) in the advocacy for the rights of their children in Cameroon
The findings were presented to stakeholders, advocators, partners, and the public during a learning event organized by the CBCHS-Empowerment and Disability Inclusive Development Project (EDID) at the CBC Health Services Resource Centre of Excellence Mvan, Yaoundé under the theme “Breaking Down barriers”
The research findings revealed that women with disabilities experience great difficulties accessing sexual and reproductive health and family planning services due to inaccessibility in the provision of Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) care information, lack of inclusivity in the provision of SRH information, and low level of education.
It further disclosed barriers limiting the access of women and girls with disabilities to sexual and reproductive health services such as negative attitudes portrayed by service providers towards women and girls with disabilities, negative religious beliefs, lack of interest in family planning, communication barriers, unavailability of SRH services and limited finance.
Speaking during the learning event, the director of CBC Health Services, Prof Tih Pius Muffih detailed that the research project marks the 9th in the series of research that the CBC Health Services has been partnering with the Liliane Foundation together with universities in the Netherlands to conduct on Disabilities inclusion in Cameroon bringing to a total of 23 research that have been conducted under the ‘Breaking Down Barriers’ project.
“ The research was conducted by selected competent Master students researchers; Jeff Comfort and Kum Desmond from the University of Bamenda, under the supervision of Dr Ngalim Valentine of the University of Bamenda” the director of CBC Health services added.
According to him, the rich research findings will go a long way to influence behavioral change in society towards women and girls with disabilities in accessing sexual and family planning services. “Findings done in the Northwest and Southwest regions will be applicable in all the other regions of the country” he added.
Prof Tih Pius explained that the research findings were born from the desire to understand the underlying causes of limited intake of sexual and reproductive health and family planning services by women and young girls with disabilities in order to close the gaps and make the services willingly available to these women.
During an interview with reporters, the supervisor of the researchers, Dr. Ngalim Valentine, laid emphasis on the need to put in place policies, programs, and intervention strategies that respond to the various needs of women and girls with disabilities.
Dr Ngalim stressed that women and girls with disabilities are not a homogenous group as such different identities affect their access to sexual and reproductive health/rights services including impairment type, financial autonomy, level of education, religious affiliation, and geographical location.
For her part, Jeff Comfort Akikea, one of the researchers, alluded to the fact that information on reproductive health doesn’t take into consideration the different types of impairments including communication barriers where these women and girls with disabilities get to the hospital but are unable to communicate with the health service providers,
She also made mention of religious beliefs where women and girls with disabilities think that family planning is a taboo and shouldn’t go in for it as well as the proximity of the health unit from their living environment and displacement challenges.
“These, coupled with the fact that they lack knowledge on their sexual and reproductive health rights and what sexual and reproductive health is all about. Intrusion of their privacy by intermediaries who accompany them to the health unit, financial autonomy, and age range hinders these women and girls with disabilities from accessing sexual and reproductive health on equal bases with every other person in Cameroon” She reiterated
During the presentation, a researcher, Kum Nji Desmond, stressed that efforts to build inclusive communities that accommodate the needs of Persons with disabilities (PWD) will not be sustainable without the involvement of The Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities (APCWD). According to him most of the existing APCWD face challenges that require the active involvement of government, NGOs, communities, and other stakeholders.
He therefore laid emphasis on the need for Parental collaboration with teachers of Children with Disabilities (CWD) in schools where the children are learning, economic empowerment of parents of CWD, and reinforcement of sensitization on APCWD via door-to-door and the media, as fundamental tools to support Associations of Parents of children with disabilities in Cameroon.
The learning event was graced with the presence of stakeholders from government ministries at the national and regional level, heads of national and international NGOs, directors of organizations and health institutions, representatives from partner organizations of the Empowerment and Disability Inclusive Development (EDID) Program and researchers from Sierra Leone, Zambia, Cameroon, and the Netherlands.
Key recommendations made during the learning event were that Hospital authorities should be sensitized and encouraged to enforce subsidized or free (SRH) services to persons with disabilities in line with the 2010 law.
- The prevalence of disability in Cameroon should inform budgetary allocation for the promotion of disability rights across sectors using a bottom-top approach including councils, regional assemblies, and national assemblies.
- Inclusive SRH education should be a key element in the training of health service providers among others.