…women travel over 10kms to access services
Clayton Shereni
MASVINGO- The advent of Covid-19 in 2019 came as a shock to the whole world and for third world countries like Zimbabwe, the pandemic was a major blow for its bedridden healthcare system.
In an effort to try and combat the spread of this deadly virus, government swiftly moved to impose strict lockdown restrictions that barred ‘unnecessary’ movement and tightened business hours even for the health system.
However, for a country whose majority live in rural areas and are women, this came as a disappointment and infringed on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) of many particularly those with disabilities.
Zimbabwean women with disabilities have greatly been sidelined when it comes to access to SRHR due to an unfriendly road network, cultural perspectives that deem them “not sexually active” and the long distances that other women have to travel to access these services at clinics and hospitals.
Communities and stakeholders including healthcare providers have ignored pleas for them to fairly treat people with disabilities (PWDs) in SRHR issues, which seem to be falling on deaf ears.
SRHR policy framework
Although the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) stipulates that each and every government should ensure that PWDs get access to SRHR services, Zimbabwe still lags behind and is not walking the talk.
In 2006 government drafted a National Reproductive Health Policy but experts have rubbished this policy for being silent on SRHR of women with disabilities and treating this group as second-class citizens.
Life has been a horror experience for rural women with disabilities especially those with mental illnesses and whose day-to-day living has been left only in the hands of God and a few caring relatives.
This has been the case for three sisters who are living with a rare condition since birth that has left them not able to do anything for themselves therefore in need of extensive care 24/7.
Face to face with a horror experience
Locadia, (30), Ngonidzashe, (33), and Sakina Mutekede, (36), are surely living a life that no one else would imagine and by virtue of being born in a poor family in Masvingo South, Ward 14, which is a rural village, these three have once in a blue moon accessed SRHR courtesy of a well-wisher.
Their mother, Shylet Mutekede is the only one who has been looking after them while their father looks after their brother who also has the same condition and sometimes exhibits violent behaviour.
The whole community, religious and traditional leaders have attributed the family’s situation to superstition and curses as cause of this worrisome condition.
TellZim News with support from Women’s Action Group (WAG) visited the family and had a face-to-face encounter with the tragedy that has befallen the Mutekede family for over 30 years now.
Upon arrival at the Mutekede homestead, one can easily conclude that the gods have not been smiling and seem to have turned their backs on this family.
For the mother and her three daughters, SRHR is something that they long for and seems so near, yet so far.
Narrating how they have been living, Shylet Mutekede said the road has been rocky and accessing SRHR services will always be a dream that they might not wake up from if something is not done urgently.
“It has been a very tough experience for me taking care of my children. They have been having their monthly cycles but I have no option than to use black t-shirts. Sometimes I just make them use these t-shirts then go to the fields the whole day and no one can change them so they will just have to wait till I come back,” said Shylet.
She also revealed that they walk a long distance to the nearest clinic and this has been a very big challenge for the family since the three women can hardly walk on their own.
“The clinic is quite a distance away, almost 10kms and sometimes when their situation gets worse, we will have to use an ox-drawn cart to Gunikuni Clinic. Life has been very difficult for me and for them as well, we all struggle to access SRHR and considering their situation, it pains me a lot and I hope one of these days we will find a long-lasting solution,” said Mutekede.
Uninterrupted access to SRHR surely means that one will make informed choices, knowledge, skills and safe sexual choices including choosing to or not to have sex.
Commenting on the case of limited access of SRHR by rural women with disabilities, Chief Chitanga, born Feleni Chauke said there is a greater need to improve access to SRHR services especially targeting women with disabilities because they are also in need of them.
“In many areas clinics are beyond even 10km some are as far as 20-30km especially in resettlement areas. Meanwhile we know resources may not permit that they construct proper structural clinics so may introduce mobile clinics where we know that they will be moving from one area to the other so that those with disabilities, especially women, access SRHR services even using a cart because they are in constant need of these services just like other able-bodied women,” said Chief Chitanga.
Economic, political, cultural, social and religious views are the multidimensional factors that have prompted able-bodied people to look at women with disabilities as not mentally and physically fit to access SRHR services.
However, some perverts have taken advantage of the worrisome economic situation with women in rural areas especially those living in abject poverty being the major victims.
Last year, 17-year-old Sharai Matowe who is mentally unstable, was lured by a fellow villager who then impregnated her in return for menial jobs since her family depended on piece jobs for survival.
Sharai was staying with her widowed mother Senzeni Makuleke and siblings sharing one leaky hut in the Dimbiti area under Chief Shindi, Chivi South Constituency surviving on very little food which they got from menial jobs.
Despite her condition, Sharai also had to accompany her mother to fellow villagers’ fields where they would work in exchange for food for themselves and her siblings including two disabled young boys.
For her, there was no time to travel long distances to the nearest clinic and access SRHR services because most of the time they would be in peoples’ fields looking for survival.
“I was impregnated by a local guy and he has not been taking care of me or the child. We do not know where he went but rumour says he went to South Africa. We are failing to get time to walk long distances to access SRHR services because we will be busy in the fields doing menial jobs for survival,” said Sharai.
The family has since relocated to Neshuro area in Mwenezi where they are now staying after being taken in by Makuleke’s brothers.
However, calls to setup SRHR friendly clinics in rural areas are moving at a snail’s pace and less is being done to fill the gap that has always been there.
Government and other development partners have been playing hide and seek when it comes to answering for this problem.
Government position on access to SRHR
Masvingo Provincial Medical Director (PMD), Dr Amadeus Shamhu said the Ministry of Health and Child Care was offering SRHR services and working flat out to ensure that they train health personnel who will cater for the needs of disabled women.
“Clinics are there and SRHR services are being offered at each and every clinic in rural areas. Right now, we are in the process of training personnel who will specifically deal with people with disabilities and other special groups,” said Dr Shamhu.
Covid-19 further crippled the country’s healthcare system due to trimming of health workers by decongesting clinics for fear of spreading the virus.
During the climax of the lockdown people shunned visiting their neighbours and many SRHR service providers closed their doors to the public.
Rural women with disabilities have always cried foul over scarcity of SRHR, lack of privacy and inadequate personnel that are specially trained to deal with PWDs.
Legislators have also failed in parliament to successfully lobby for an all-inclusive Sexual Reproductive Health Policy that binds the government to ensure that SRHR services are always at the disposal of each and every person regardless of their physical stature.
Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Senator Lovemore Matuke said that the government was doing the best to offer services to people with disabilities.
“Government is providing for everyone including the disabled. National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has got mobile clinics that also offer SRHR services so if requested it will be availed. Most of the wards in rural areas now have clinics and those with disabilities usually get services free of charge,” said Matuke.
Way forward
Disability Amalgamation Community Trust (DACT) Director, Henry Chivhanga said women in rural areas were facing a mammoth task in accessing SRHR services and urged government to be cognizant of every women in rural communities.
“You would find these people are facing a lot of challenges especially during the COVID-19 era which restricted free movement even to and from clinics to take family planning tablets.
“It has been a mammoth task for PWDs. Pads are now expensive and imagine the kind of experiences people who use wheelchairs have since they demand total hygiene but they have to compromise. We have seen that priority is being given to able bodied people and we urge government to avail these SRHR services free of charge and more often to all women without segregation,” said Chivhanga.
Funds should be poured in towards improving women’s access to these services and also for women’s rights organizations to carry out campaigns in remote areas.
It is a public secret that women with disabilities have a mammoth task when it comes to accessing clinics in rural areas and there is need for construction of more clinics and also to periodically offer door-to-door SRHR services in marginalized communities.
However, the big question still lingers on whether government and other stakeholders will walk the talk and surely address the epidemic that has befallen rural women with disabilities within a pandemic.
