People with disabilities (PWDs) in Zimbabwe have raised concerns over the lack of proper Covid-19 prevention mechanisms, requesting for a specialised face mask that enables them to breathe well.

Development Dairies noticed that most PWDs, especially children with Down syndrome, were not using face masks at all, thereby putting them at a high risk of contracting the virus.

The Harare Provincial Coordinator of Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children Association (ZAPHCA), Theresa Makwara, said that the association needed specialised mask for the children as the hand-made ones were not good for them.

‘Children with disabilities, especially those with Down syndrome, are at a greater risk of contracting Covid-19. Giving them face masks is risky because they can end up eating them or even choking to death’, she said.

To make matters worse, most of the children, according to Mwakwara, come from vulnerable communities and they use public transport often associated with crowding. However, she said that the association had begun mobilising resources to assist the parents of the children.

Mwakwara said, ‘Our members are mostly poor communities who survive on begging and vending. Some are single mothers who were divorced after giving birth to children with disabilities. Their situation has been worsened by this [Covid-19] pandemic since they are no longer able to carry out their vending businesses’.

She commended a non-governmental organisation, Misereor, and the Chinese Embassy for providing financial support that enabled the association to buy food for the children.

Source: Herald

Photo source: Shibuya246