BE CAUTIOUS, COPPERBELT TOLD
…as vulnerable voice concern
VARIOUS groups including the aged and differently- abled have called for extra care and attention as the Covid-19 cases increased to 29 on the Copperbelt.
Ndola accounted for
22, Chingola, Kitwe and Mpongwe had one new case each while the rest were captured in Masaiti.
The Zambia Deaf Youth and Women Association Executive Director Frankson Musukwa complained that it is faced with a number of challenges amidst the corona virus called on government to work with its deaf stakeholders.
Similarly, Zambia Aged People’s Association national secretary, Cyprian Pombolokani, said there was need to look after the senior citizens especially that the numbers of people contracting the virus were rising.
Mr Pombolokani said in an interview in Ndola yesterday that the aged were not receiving the cash-transfer money in good time ad
were faced with several other challenges in the midst of the outbreak of the pandemic.
He noted that the senior citizens should be assisted with masks, hand sanitisers and soap as well as other requirements.
And Mr Musukwa told the Daily Nation in a separate interview in Kitwe that the cost associated with hygiene products were a challenge to the members.
He said there was lack of active involvement and
consultation with disabled people organizations representatives on matters relating to Covid-19 preventive measures.
Mr Musukwa said that staying safe amidst the pandemic on an empty stomach was also difficult as most deaf people were unemployed and the means of survival was through some work.
“Zambia lags far behind when it comes to accessing information and medical services for the deaf. In coronavirus times, with poor access to information, fear could be deadly to the deaf community should we fail to contain the situation,” he said.
Mr Musukwa said that written text was often insufficient, as many deaf people found it difficult to read and write in English, since learning a written language involved phonetics.
Meanwhile, Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities Copperbelt Provincial Coordinator, Anthony Mwansa, said most of the messages were not in accessible format for persons living with disabilities such as the blind and hearing impaired.
In an interview, Mr Mwansa said basic requirements like washing hands regularly was difficult to explain to the visually impaired.