Access to healthcare services is, on paper, one of the human rights that are non-negotiable. In reality, however, people with physical disabilities and those who are deaf and non-verbal encounter experiences they would rather forget. RABECCA CHIMJEKA highlights the extent of the problem and what State and non-State actors are doing about it.
Anna Martin Samuele, 34, from Khombedza area in Salima District longs for a day she will go to Salima District Hospital alone, hopeful that accessing healthcare services would not be a hassle.
The truth is, this is wishful thinking.
“There are no sign language interpreters in most public healthcare service facilities in Malawi, such that accessing healthcare service facilities is not easy.
“That is why, whenever some of us are going to the hospital, we take with us a blood relation or someone who knows us to be interpreting things for us. What this does is to deny the people who escort us to the hospital the opportunity to engage in activities such as small-scale business or farming. So, the nation suffers one way or the other. I look forward to a day I will go to the hospital alone, knowing fully well that I will find sign language interpreters who will do the needful,” said Martin Samuel, one of the people who are non-verbal in the Central Region district.
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Patuma Issa, from Mpiripiri in Makanjira, Mangochi District, concurs.
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She says, whenever she visits Makanjira Health Centre to access services, she does not find anyone to interpret things for her.
“This compromises access to healthcare services,” Issa said.
Not surprisingly, a research paper on people with disabilities’ access to healthcare services at Uliwa in Karonga District indicated that non-verbal people were facing communication challenges when they sought medical attention in public hospitals.
Two non-verbal people who were engaged by Media Aids and Health Watch researchers in 2013 indicated that they either visited healthcare facilities in the company of family members or did not visit the hospitals at all.
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The organisation called for quick interventions into the issue, citing the recruitment of sign language interpreters and construction of disability-friendly structures for those with other physical challenges.
The development has prompted Disability HIV/Aids Trust Executive Director David Njaidi to ask the government to do more something about the problem.
He cites the recruitment of social workers who can communicate with people with disabilities in health centres.
Such service seekers include those with hearing and vision impairment.
Speaking on Tuesday, during a two-day National Disability Conference held in Lilongwe, he said time has come for State and non-State actors to find solutions to the problem once and for all.
“People with disabilities are facing communication challenges in healthcare service facilities as, for instance, people with hearing impairment find nobody who can communicate with them using sign language, a development that prevents them from accessing quality health services,” Njaidi said.
He also expressed worry that most healthcare service facilities are constructed without regard to the needs of people with disabilities.
“For instance, it is difficult for people with disabilities to pass through the corridors of most healthcare service facilities and most of the toilets are also small. In maternity wings, the beds are at times too long for some mothers with disabilities,” Njaidi said.
On her part, Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Minister Jean Sendeza said the government is committed to protecting and promoting human rights, including the human right to health.
She said plans are in the pipeline to recruit social workers in healthcare service facilities.
“The Malawi Government is committed towards the attainment of quality health for persons with disabilities in the country. We are obliged to provide quality healthcare to all Malawians but we cannot do this alone. We require strong collaboration with stakeholders such as government sectors, partners, organisations of persons with disabilities and others for these efforts to bear desirable fruits,” Sendeza said.
Oh her part, Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda hailed DHAT for organising the conference through the Disability Rights Fund.
“We are obliged to hear the voice of persons with disabilities. Their voices need to be amplified. The conference on access to health reaffirms the international as well as the government’s commitment towards protecting and promoting human rights, including the right to health and attainment of the Malawi 2063, which promotes the ideal of an “inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation’,” Kandodo Chiponda said.
The World Health Organisation indicates that “disability is part of being human. Almost everyone will temporarily or permanently experience disability at some point in their life. An estimated 1.3 billion people—about 16 percent of the global population—currently experience significant disability. This number is increasing due in part to population ageing and an increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases”.
If further says disability has a bearing on people’s interaction.
“Disability results from the interaction between individuals with a health condition, such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and depression, with personal and environmental factors including negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings and limited social support.
“A person’s environment has a huge effect on the experience and extent of disability. Inaccessible environments create barriers that often hinder the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in society on an equal basis with others. Progress on improving social participation can be made by addressing these barriers and facilitating persons with disabilities in their day to-day-lives,” WHO indicates.
One can only hope that, before long, people with disabilities will find visits to healthcare service facilities rewarding.
