Big Doors Swing on Little Hinges: A Case of Women with Disabilities, Access to Sanitary Facilities and Maternal Health

Studies carried out in Zimbabwe revealed that persons with physical disabilities had problems in accessing sanitary facilities due to infrastructure designs which were exclusive of such persons, especially pit latrines and water pumps such as boreholes. Dams in Zimbabwe were failing to supply cities and towns because of continuous little rains. The situation negatively affected the functions of water system toilets. To alleviate the sanitary and hygiene challenges, the Government of Zimbabwe in conjunction with non-governmental organizations constructed boreholes and ventilated latrine toilets in Zimbabwe from 2007 to 2010. Whilst these developments were a noble cause for ameliorating sanitary challenges Zimbabweans were facing, they left out persons with physical disabilities. Most public sanitary facilities are inaccessible or difficult to access by persons with physical disabilities. Studies (ibid) revealed that girls with disabilities absented themselves from school during menstruation periods and they ended up dropping out of school. The reason was because they faced challenges in accessing school toilets for sanitary change and disposal. It was also revealed that both boys and girls with physical disabilities in Zimbabwean schools are at risk of contracting diseases because they accessed most of the school toilets by leaving the wheelchair outside then crawl on their hands and feet despite the dirty toilet floors. Corridors were too narrow for wheelchairs to maneuver and there were no rails for support. Some toilets, for example, the pit latrines had no seaters but holes and these are the most common type of toilets which were made to substitute flash toilets in Zimbabwe and they are mostly found in rural areas. Thus public institutions such as schools, clinics and hospitals were found to have toilets that were inaccessible or difficult to access by persons with physical disabilities. It is against this background that this study was set to establish the extent to which inaccessible to sanitary infrastructure at health centers affected women with physical disabilities (WWPD) in Zimbabwe, Africa. It sought to examine the coping mechanisms and adaptation of women with physical disabilities in situations where they had difficulties in accessing sanitary facilities at clinics and hospitals. Qualitative methodology was used for this research as well as ethnography method. Ethnography mainly focuses on the understanding of beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of the researched community. Interviews, focus group discussion and observations were used to gather data. The study found that, most women with physical disabilities did not go for antenatal clinic and most gave birth in homes. More so, they did not take their babies for baby health care check and immunization. The study concluded that in access and difficulty to access health institution sanitary facilities adversely affected women with disabilities and their children in Zimbabwe such that they resorted to health care alternatives that was life threatening. Disparities in the area of access to health care sanitary facilities put women in wheelchairs and their babies at high mortality risk. The study recommends future research and Zimbabwe health policy directions to address health and maternal disparities among women with disabilities and their babies.