Women and Girls with Disability Rights Organisation has stressed the need to include youths and girls with disabilities in disaster response and recovery initiatives.
On Monday, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) held a training of youths with disabilities on the promotion of sexual and reproductive health services and inclusive climate change adaptation at Senti in Lilongwe.
The NGO’s executive director Stella Nkhonya said it was high time government and other stakeholders joined hands to support young people and women with disabilities access friendly health services during disasters.
She said: “There has been an outcry that women and girls with disabilities have been denied access to resources that are supposed to help them during disasters.
“There were also instances when these women and girls were in evacuation camps during disasters and they were subjected to gender-based violence.”
Nkhonya said lack of support prompted her organisation and Kenya-based Centre for Inclusive Climate Change Adaptation for Sustainable Africa (Iccasa) to train girls with disabilities to understand their sexual and reproductive health rights and how best they can be included in disaster preparation, response and recovery programmes.
Iccasa programmes director Faith Gikunda said the workshop served as a dialogue for women and girls with disabilities to actively participate in climate change policies.
“We are having a dialogue with women and girls with disabilities on their involvement and inclusion of their voices in climate change initiatives,” she said.
One of the participants, Mphatso Phiri, from Kaliyeka in Lilongwe, said the training empowered them to know how to report abuse during disasters.
“When disasters strike, people with disabilities become more vulnerable as are easily forgotten and excluded from disaster initiatives,” she said.
The NGO conducted the training with support from Hivos.
