According to the Fourth Rwanda Population and Housing Census (RPHC4) in 2012, there are 446,453 persons with disabilities aged 5 and above living in Rwanda, out of which 221,150 are male and 225,303 are female.
Children under five were excluded from the Census as their identification is too problematic in Rwandan context. For this reason, the exact prevalence of disability in Rwandan is not known (officially it is 5%).
In an assessment (done by Handicap International in 2012) of the risk factors and vulnerability levels experienced by persons with disabilities, women with disabilities are much more often than men with disabilities become victims of sexual and gender-based violence in Rwanda, and are very often excluded from sexual health education and family planning programmes. Next to common perception of women with disabilities as ‘asexual’ and not ‘worthy’ persons, a lot of barriers that women with disabilities experience relate to the lack of inclusive awareness raising materials and inclusive processes that would allow those women to benefit from sexual education and services. the lack of It all leads to high rates of mortality among women with disabilities, risk of a delivering a sick child, risk of not being able to have children, and risk of developing additional disability. Our organization believes that women and men with disabilities must have access to inclusive sexual health education which shall be integrated in other programmes addressing the needs of persons with disabilities, among which are accessible communication formats, inclusive rehabilitation services, respectful attitudes.
In Rwanda health care services are provided by the community health workers in the village, which are not aware about inclusive practices and particular needs of women with disabilities
The Umbrella of Organizations of Persons with disabilities in the fight against HIV and for Health Promotion (UPHLS) which is recognized for its contributions to awareness raising on the rights of PWDs, inclusive governmental policies and implementation, in particular in the areas of HIV&AIDS and Health, and lately also in Employability.
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CommentKate Rushton