According to the 2019 Kenyan census, 2.2% of Kenyans live with some form of disability. 2.5% of Kenyan women have some form of disability compared to 1.9% of Kenyan men. Women with disabilities have the right to the highest attainable standard of health including Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH).
Yet they often face numerous barriers while accessing SRH services including stigmatization, communication barriers and long distances to the health facilities. It is often assumed that women with disabilities are not sexually active and therefore do not need sexual and reproductive health services.
She Achieves will focus on addressing challenges that girls and women face while accessing SRH services as well as advocating for inclusive health systems. She Achieves focuses on the following SRH components: Contraception and family planning services, prevention and management of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), prevention of unsafe abortions and Female Genital Cutting (FGC).
Strategic interventions include:
- Increasing awareness on the rights and SRH needs of women with disabilities amongst the duty bearers and community members.
- Advocating for inclusive health systems including provision of sign language interpreters in all public hospitals.
- Capacity building of health care providers on how to respond to SRH needs of women with disabilities.
- Knowledge sharing through producing and disseminating simplified audio-visual materials with SRH information for women with disabilities.