Water and toilets for all…? Global inclusion for people with disabilities is key
Water and toilets for all…?
Global inclusion for people with disabilities is key
The Global Disability Summit, taking place on 24 July in London, seeks to drive forward the global focus on disability. Accessible and inclusive water, sanitation and hygiene play a vital part in beating poverty around the world. To achieve success, people with disabilities must be included in development.
Everyone around the world should have access to water, hygiene and sanitation – collectively known as WASH – says WaterAid. People with disabilities must have a central role in developing policies and WASH programmes to support social inclusion and empowerment, as well as in evaluating their effectiveness.
The Global Disability Summit is co-hosted by the UK and Kenyan Governments, together with the International Disability Alliance. As International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt declared to the Commons, using sign language, earlier this month:
"For too long, in the world’s poorest countries, disabled people have not been able to reach their full potential because of stigma or not enough practical support."
Tim Wainwright, WaterAid’s Chief Executive agrees. He said:
"How right she is. People with disabilities are the world's largest ‘minority’. The proportion of the population with disabilities now represents 1 billion people; 80% of whom live in developing countries, where people with disabilities are less likely to have access to water or sanitation, education or employment, leading to poor health and a higher likelihood of living in poverty."
People with disabilities are rarely consulted or involved in WASH policy and programmes, and are often among the one in nine people in the world who lack access to clean water, and the one in three currently living without decent toilets.
Exclusion, because of disability, can be exacerbated by other factors, for example being female, poor or living in remote areas. Poverty and social exclusion are fundamentally linked. Breaking down generations of stigma takes time and persistence. It will also take time and persistence across the sector to develop the skills required to meet the needs of people with disabilities, ensuring they are always consulted, understood and included in water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, as a matter of course.
WaterAid and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) are currently collaborating on research to deepen our understanding about how to address some of these invisible barriers. The research has helped uncover the complex and stigmatised issues around menstrual hygiene management for women and girls with intellectual impairments in Nepal.
Researcher at LSHTM (on secondment from WaterAid) Jane Wilbur said:
"WaterAid is now piloting a new style of disability-inclusive hygiene promotion in Nepal, centred around behaviour change for menstrual hygiene management. This is a complex process, up against age-old taboos and stigma, lasting change will take time and persistence – but we know it is possible."
When schools have accessible WASH services, children with disabilities are more likely to enjoy an education. In workplaces, people with disabilities with accessible WASH are more likely to be independent and to earn a living. If public toilets are accessible, then people with disabilities can travel more freely, visit leisure activities, go to market places, and transport hubs.
Justine who lives in Burkina Faso, was consulted by WaterAid and its partners when new fully accessible toilets were built in her community. Prior to this, she had no choice but to go in the bush.
Justine explained:
"When you have a disability, if you don’t have the support of people with goodwill, your life is almost impossible here. For a woman, it wasn’t safe to go alone, at night I didn’t dare go far because of the fear of harassment, attack or even rape."
Sarah is the caretaker of a disability-friendly latrine in Liberia, both she and her husband are blind. The toilets are designed to meet the needs of people with disabilities and positively impact upon privacy and dignity.
Sarah said:
"I like the place because no one is embarrassing me. I am no longer effected by infection, or having to pay money to treat myself."
Tim Wainwright said:
"People with disabilities and their carers must be included in decisions about water, sanitation and hygiene in their communities. By ensuring all development programmes have equality and inclusion considerations at their heart, change can and must happen.
"After the summit, DFID will update its disability framework - let’s hope fully inclusive access to water, sanitation and hygiene feature prominently. The UK is well-placed to galvanise global progress, ensuring that disability inclusion is throughout all development as the norm, not the exception to the rule."
WaterAid will sign up to the summit’s Charter for Change, to demonstrate its constant commitment to put equality and inclusion at the core of its programmes and policies. The UK Government and all implementing partners should ensure that all programmes are disability-inclusive and that all water, sanitation and hygiene facilities are safe and accessible.
The summit will take place at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London and will bring together more than 700 delegates from governments, donors, private sector organisations, charities and organisations of persons with disabilities.
#DisabilitySummit #NowIsTheTime
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Lisa Martin
[email protected] or +44 (0)207 793 4524
Yola Verbruggen
[email protected] or +44 (0)207 793 4909
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Notes to Editors:
WaterAid
WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to clean water and sanitation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 34 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 25.8 million people with clean water and 25.1 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org/uk, follow @WaterAidUK or @WaterAidPress on Twitter, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.
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844 million people in the world – one in nine – do not have clean water close to home.[1]
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2.3 billion people in the world – almost one in three – do not have a decent toilet of their own.[2]
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Around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes.[3]
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Every £1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of £4 in increased productivity.[4]
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Just £24 can provide one person with clean water.[5]
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To find out if countries are keeping their promises on water and sanitation, see the online database www.WASHwatch.org
[1] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines
[2] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines
[3] washwatch.org
[4] World Health organization (2012) Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage
