Store dele af Nepals befolkning lever uden toilet, og i mange områder medfører dette en spredning af sygdomme som kolera og diarré. For handicappede kan et toilet være med til at gøre livet en lille smule lettere.
KAPILBASTU, 30 May 2013 (IRIN): “Before my house had a toilet, I would have to ask my grandsons to help me out into a field, hold me up, and stay with me until I was done,” Krishna Devi, a 59-year-old woman with a physical disability in Nepal’s southern Kapilbastu District along the border with India, told IRIN.
“It was humiliating, but now with a toilet I have independence and control over my own life”, she said.
Devi’s village is in one of the poorest in Nepal.
She lives in a small cluster (klynge) of houses that has in recent months begun to end open defecation (forrette nødtørft i det fri), which can contribute to water contamination and the spread of infectious (smitsomme) diarrhoeal diseases, including cholera, says the World Health Organization.
According to local research organizations, a 2009 diarrhoea outbreak in Nepal’s Far West region killed hundreds of people.
A 2011 Nepal population and housing census indicated that nearly 40 percent of homes do not have toilets, leading millions of people to defecate outside.
Although the public health benefits of ending open defecation are widely touted (proklameres vidt og bredt), knowledge of the effects of such campaigns on the lives of people with disabilities remain only anecdotal, say experts.
“While we do not have exact data on ODF [open defecation free] and disability, we are confident the programmes are benefiting people with disabilities,” said Andreas Knapp, chief of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nepal.
Reducing stigma
Læs videre på: http://www.irinnews.org/report/98121/toilets-provide-dignity-for-nepal-s-disabled
