Malawi Union of the Blind (MUB)together with Malawi Council for the Handicapped (MACOHA) and Malawi National Association for the Deaf (MANAD) with funding from CBM Germany, have launched a program to assist people with disabilities to access CIVID-19 prevention information inorder to protect them from the pandemic.
Speaking during the information dissemination session in Mangochi, Mzura-Chima the project Coordinator, said that the programme aims at equipping the disabled with proper knowledge in Covid-19 Prevention. He said that it is an open secret that most disabled people have challenges in accessing information due to various factors. He among other factors mentioned that most of the disabled find it tasking to go to areas where such information is being given and most of them do not have access to internet so that they can access important information from the net. To make matters worse, most of the organisations that provide such information do not take into account the various disabilities when coming up with their tools for information dissemination. He mentioned that for instance most groups use visual posters which cannot be accessed by blind people while others simply use vans with loudspeakers which unfortunately discriminate against those with visual impairment.
It is in regard of these short falls that the three organisations came up with the project which aimed at the disabled. However recognising that most of the disabled in rural Malawi are very poor, the programme also involved the distribution of 5Kgs flour, beans, sugar and salt to address alleviate the subsistence challenges. Of course of even greater importance was the distribution to each disabled person a bottle of sanitizer, masks and DVDs containing prevention messages. According to Mr Chauluka, this package would go a long way helping the people in Covid prevention.
Mr Ezekiel Kumwenda, MUB Executive Director, made mention that the project is earmarked to reach to 18 districts across Malawi and that currently its only Mangochi, Machinga and Mulanje that have been reached.
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