The Observer (Kampala)
Shifa Mwesigye
7 December 2011
People living with disabilities want government to respect their sexual reproductive health rights by providing them with health services in Uganda.
Presenting his findings to at least 2,000 delegates attending the 2011 International Conference on Family Planning in Dakar, Senegal, Ronald Kasule, the administrator of Access for Action Uganda, said PWDS are the most marginalised group of people in Uganda.
Yet they have a greater need for sexual and reproductive health services because they are vulnerable to sexual abuse and have limited access to services, Kasule noted.
“People think that because we are disabled we are also asexual and we do not have sexual urges, feelings and fantasies.
“Demand and circumstances dictate that we should have children who will help push our wheelchairs, especially when we grow old and tired later in life,” said Kasule, whose disability emanates from the polio attack he got while he was three years old.
“PWDs are forcefully sterilized in Uganda by their relatives without their knowledge. Why are people with disabilities denied a chance to sexual reproductive health services?” Kasule asked.
While Uganda has policies demanding inclusion of PWDs in sexual and reproductive health services (SRHs), Kasule says the government has not ensured that these policies are implemented in the communities and by health workers in health centres who look at them as aliens when they demand contraceptives or seek maternal health services.
He says the government lacks the commitment to translate these policies into action. Suzanne Reier of the World Health Organisation said many mentally handicapped people are sexually abused because of local and traditional beliefs in some communities. The understanding, according to Reier, is that if one has sex with a mentally handicapped person, all his/her problems will be solved. Yet this leaves some PWDs pregnant with no fathers to take care of their babies.
Vane Lumumba, who carried out a survey in Kenya, said nearly three quarters of PWDs in that country have children, while one in every 10 PWDs gets pregnant as early as 12 years. The conference brought together 2,000 advocates, donors and researchers who pushed for broader family planning access and support around the world.
Today, more than 215 million women want but do not have access to contraceptives. Ministers, MPs and health experts from Uganda who attended the meeting called for political and financial support to champion contraceptive innovation and access.
“Now is the time to prioritise family planning and reduce maternal mortality, improve the lives of women and their families and ultimately ensure economic development,” said Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of UNFPA.
He said the conference gathers knowledge and ideas, not just about family planning but the larger effort to improve women’s and children’s health. Osotimehin added that voluntary family planning allows women and couples to determine the number, timing and spacing of their children.
“It is and has to be an essential part of integrated reproductive and maternal health programmes because wanted pregnancies are healthier pregnancies,” he said.
It is estimated that one third of maternal deaths could be prevented if women accessed family planning methods. Increasing access to contraceptives could prevent one in three maternal deaths and one in 11 child deaths, according to the UNFPA. Every year, an estimated 358,000 women die from pregnancy related complications. In developing countries like Uganda, fulfilling the unmet need for family planning would cost Shs 9,360bn ($3.6m), although this investment would actually lower the cost of providing maternal and newborn health services by $5.1bn.
“As our number continues to grow past seven billion and so many suffer from poverty, poor health and lack of opportunities, it is more important than ever to ensure that every child is wanted and that everyone has the power and the right to manage their own fertility,” Osotimehin said.
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