Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru- The HIV/AIDS pandemic has left a negative impact on vulnerable populations such as People with Disabilities (PWDs) who for years have been lagging behind in HIV /AIDS response.
The development has resulted in PWDs who live with HIV being sidelined in communities as they become passive recipients of Sexual Reproductive Health Services (SRHS).
Speaking to TellZim News during an interview last week, Beat Non Communicable Diseases Zimbabwe (BeatNCDs) director Jacob Ngwenya said it was now being commonly and wrongly perceived that PWDs are generally at a low risk of HIV infections.
“PWDs are incorrectly believed to be sexually inactive, unlikely to use drugs or alcohol and at low risk of violence and rape than their non-disabled peers. PWDs are among the most stigmatized, poorest and the least educated of the world’s citizens thereby exposing them to the HIV epidemic.
“The rights based approach which recognizes the socio-economic impact of disability has since been adopted but the disability community still lags behind when it comes to HIV issues. Sexual and reproductive health services for this community are generally not available and deliberately not targeted to them reinforcing the notion that they are asexual or not sexually active.
“People with disabilities often experience increased risk factors associated with acquiring HIV including poverty, increased vulnerability to sexual violence and abuse, limited access to education and healthcare and lack the information and resources needed to facilitate safer sex. The harmful mythical practices of treating sexually transmitted diseases by sleeping with a virgin have exposed a lot of girls and women with disability to rape and abuse,” he said.
Ngwenya further said health service providers are however turning a deaf ear on PWDs.
“Health providers are turning a deaf ear on PWDs, perpetrators take advantage of those who can’t see as they can’t be eye witnesses in court. At the end of the day these people won’t even bother to report to the police and proper investigations fail to commence due to the barriers at hand.
“Women with physical disability are also targeted as they are known to be highly likely to be defenseless. The assumption is that these risk factors are compounded by Covid-19 induced travel restrictions which saw some victims who were locked down with the perpetrators who routinely sexually abused them. Disability advocates and activists tend to shy away from HIV/AIDS issues though they rarely deal with sexual reproductive health issues. Equally the same HIV advocates and activists shy away from disability issues.
“Let me say HIV and disability are also linked as people can develop disabilities as a result of the progression of HIV or due to the side-effects of antiretroviral treatment (ART). There is growing evidence that people with disability are at higher risk of HIV infection than people who are not disabled,” he added.
Young Voice Disability Zimbabwe Director Nyasha Mahwende said a lot of changes were at hand as National Aids Council (NAC) was now training and working with PWDs in most HIV /AIDS response mechanisms.
“As people with disabilities for long we were being sidelined. It was just recently when we noticed that the NAC has started to train PWDs so that we educate our fellow peers about HIV and SRH. We are very happy as our presence is now being recognized.
“We are happy that two of our youth with disabilities including myself are part of the peer educators team moving on a community sensitization based initiative.
“Back then we used to be left out, I don’t know what people thought about us like we are not sexually active or don’t get affected when it comes to sexual related issues. We are people like everyone else and we need our health and welfare to be prioritized. We are now part of the HIV/AIDS response programme and I hope more will be done to recruit more PWDs as peer educators,” she said.
