Mrs. Favour is a 33-year-old woman living with a physical disability in Benin City, Edo State. Like many women with disabilities, she faces challenges when accessing sexual reproductive health including contraceptive services because of the limited knowledge she has to make informed decisions and the stigma faced when she visits healthcare centres.
Women with Disabilities face disproportionate barriers when accessing healthcare services. Because of the multiple barriers they experience, they are further left behind. Their inability to make these critical health decisions affects health, and economic outcomes therefore widening the gender equality gap.
Under Ipas Nigeria’s disability centred programs, women with disabilities were empowered with sexual and reproductive health information and linkages to healthcare centres to receive stigma-free sexual and reproductive healthcare. Now, Favour has better knowledge on contraception and can take better decisions about her sexual and reproductive health.
Initially, I did not know the health centers to get contraceptives. I also didn’t know all the contraceptive options to take before now. Women with disabilities are always discriminated but we were informed to always go to healthcare centers to demand contraceptives. We need more of these programs so we can be enlightened