On Friday 26th June Sightsavers Nigeria is launching a petition calling for the United Nations to meet the needs of people with disabilities who are facing the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lives of people with disabilities are being put at greater risk due to a lack of action from governments around the world to meet their needs during the pandemic, according to campaigners.
The petition is part of Sightsavers’ Equal World campaign, which seeks to amplify the voices of people with disabilities and highlight the denial of rights that they face globally.
Shikuku Obosi, Sightsavers’ Disability Inclusion Advisor, based in Nairobi said: “This is a life and death situation. Like everyone else, we are anxious, we are doing our best to ensure we don’t catch or spread this virus, while we try to feed ourselves and our families.
We, people with disabilities, are people. Just people. Nothing special or unusual. The difference is that we are also having to bend over backwards to get any recognition that we exist and that we also need assistance from our governments and development organisations. We are human too and we matter as well.”
The discrimination people with disabilities are reporting includes being deprioritised to receive health care; not being given vital information in accessible formats; denial of essential personal support; increased risk of contracting COVID-19 in institutions and barriers for women and girls who wish to claim their sexual and reproductive health rights.
Dr Sunday Isiyaku, Country Director for Sightsavers Nigeria and Ghana, based in Kaduna, said: “COVID – 19 has exacerbated discrimination and exposed existing inequalities for people with disabilities.
For example, here in Nigeria we are seeing people with disabilities been discriminated, denied access to health care facilities, awareness information and needed economic palliative support in spite of their vulnerability. In fact, in Jigawa, a special assistance to the Governor on special needs who contracted COVID-19 passed on as a result of denied access to health care
Due to ongoing discrimination all over the world we see that when a disaster like COVID strikes, people with disabilities are the hardest hit and the least supported.”
Natasha Kennedy, Campaign Manager of Equal World said: “The disability rights movement is in a strong position to influence the UN right now. Its new Disability Rights framework could ensure the needs of people with disabilities are recognised and met across the entire UN system, including within its emergency health responses.
“We need the UN and member states to step-up their efforts to make this happen. This cannot be put on the backburner. We are in an international crisis and there are up to 1 billion people with disabilities who are trying to survive without the recognition or support they need.”
Equal World will collect petition signatures until Thursday 9th July 2020. To sign the Equal World petition visit www.sightsavers.org/equalworld
Equal World is Sightsavers campaign Equal World calls on the United Nations and member states to improve the lives of people with disabilities around the world by promoting disability rights and inclusion throughout its work.
The charity has campaigned for disability-inclusive global development since 2013, and in that time has seen significant recognition of disability as a priority issue.
For more information visit: www.sightsavers.org/equalworld
About Sightsavers Nigeria, SightSavers has been in Nigeria for over 60 years controlling, preventing and eliminating avoidable blindness and promoting the equal rights of people with disabilities. Currently, we are developing cost effective demonstrable inclusive education models, strengthening the institutional capacity of disabled peoples’ organisation, championing inclusive health system, building the employability readiness of job seekers with disabilities and linking them to formal employment opportunities in the labour market. We work with local communities, using local volunteers to build trust and encourage people to accept the solution we provide and sustain them.
About Sightsavers International
- Sightsavers is an international organisation that works in more than 30 developing countries to prevent avoidable blindness, treat and eliminate neglected tropical disease, and promote the rights of people with disabilities.
- Globally 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment and of these, at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. This burden weighs more heavily on poorer countries, and on marginalised communities. And projections show that global demand for eye care is set to surge in the coming years.
- In the seven decades since its foundation, Sightsavers has:
- Supported more than 1.2 BILLION treatments for neglected tropical diseases
- Carried out more than 7.7 million cataract operations to restore sight
- Carried out more than 196 million eye examinations
- – Dispensed more than 4.6 million glasses
For further details, interviews, photos and case studies contact Rasak Adekoya, Programme Lead – Inclusion works at Sightsavers on radekoya@sightsavers.org / 2348034829045
