By Hopkin Reporter
Kitui CECM for Culture, Gender, Youth, Sports, ICT and Social services Phoebe Mutemi on Monday, 20th November 2023, has asked Kitui residents not to shun people with disabilities (PWD)and at the same time urged the caregivers not to hide them from the public.
Waziri Phoebe was speaking when she graced the launch of Five day exercise of handing over of mobility wheelchairs from the walkabout Foundation, Phoebe applauded the foundation for donating the mobility wheelchairs.
“We are very happy because today in partnership with Walkabout Foundation we have launched distribution of wheelchairs and we started with 20 people from kitui central”, She noted.
She added through her ministry in collaboration with department of health took an assessment of PWDs and focused on those with mobility challenges to benefit from the donation.
The phase one of the distribution of the wheelchairs is set to benefit 100 people, 20 people from each of the Five Sub-Counties; Kitui Central, Kitui South, Kitui Rural, Kitui East and kitui West constituencies.
“We have more than 41,000 people living with disabilities in Kitui County and out of 41, 000 people, we have 12,000 people with physical disabilities”, Phoebe added.
Further the county Minister noted with concern, the County Government is ready to work with partners such as the Walkabout Foundation to help alleviate the suffering of persons with mobility challenges and other forms of disabilities.
She challenged the residents to shun from social stigmatizing the PDWs and avoid hiding those living with disabilities and bring them to public for help.
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates in a given population, 10 percent of these people are living with disabilities with one percent having mobility challenges.
Ends///
