AfricaPress-Tanzania: PERSONS Living with Disabilities (PWDs) in the region have been offered special awareness programme on Covid-19, thanks to an international Evangelical Christian humanitarian aid, development and advocacy organisation.
World Vision Tanzania (WVT) Programme Officer Cosmas Mbijima said recently that the awareness programme sought to acquaint the PWDs with requisite knowledge of staying safe and prevention of the spread of the deadly virus.
“According to our survey, PWDs are least informed about coronavirus and worse enough they are the most vulnerable group in society,” he said.
According to the WVT officer, the Covid-19 awareness programme on the PWDs highlighted a need for equipping the latter with knowledge and basic skills of curbing the spread of the deadly virus.
The awareness programme targeted more than 1,000 PWDs from Longido, Ngorongoro and Karatu districts.
Detailing on the mode of conducting the awareness programme, Mr Mbijima said WVT aimed at reaching Covid-19 less knowledgeable groups.
He said they were taken by surprise to see that a good number of communities hailing from pastoral communities were hiding the PWDs, which denied them basic knowledge on Covid-19.
“Persons with disabilities generally have more healthcare needs than others – both standard needs and needs linked to impairment – and are, therefore, more vulnerable to the impact of low quality or inaccessible healthcare services than others,” he emphasised.
According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most people with disabilities are not at high risk of becoming infected with or having severe illness from Covid-19.
However, some people with disabilities might be at a high risk of infection or severe illness because of their underlying medical conditions.
