FRI, MAY 31 2019-theG&BJournal- Nigeria has a population of about 10 million people with disabilities according the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), but expects say the true statistics can be higher given the number shut away-out on stereotypical views.
World report (World Health Organization and the World Bank Group joint report) on disability published way back in 2011 reckon that about 25 million Nigerians had at least one disability, while 3.6 million of these had very significant difficulties in functioning.
The latest figure by the NBS said 10% of the households have at least one person living with disabilities while the proportion of household members living with disabilities is 5.2 per cent.
Disability result from health conditions, personal factors and environmental factors such as access to improved water facilities, sanitation and hygiene.
In Nigeria households that use improved source of drinking water are 73.4 percent. According to the NBS, South West Zone recorded the highest percentage of households with improved main source of drinking water (87.0 percent), closely followed by South East and South South with 82.9 and 77.0 percent respectively. The lowest was North West with 62.8 percent
Nationally, 57.4 percent of households have access to improved sanitation facility. On zonal basis, South East recorded the highest percentage of households with 70.8 followed by South West with 67.6 percent while North West recorded the least percentage of households with 39.4.
‘’However, 24.4 percent of household members in Nigeria still practice open defecation,’’ NBS said.
North central recorded the highest percentage of household members involved in this practice with 53.9 percent followed by South West with 28.0 percent while North West had the least with 10.3 percent.
The household heads that had knowledge of at least two critical times for hand washing in Nigeria is 91.4. South East and South West recorded 98.8 and 94.5 percent respectively, while North East recorded the least percentage of 82.4. On the other hand percentage figure of households with fixed place for hand washing with water and soap under running water nationally is 22.1. South East recorded the highest percentage of 32.1, followed by North East while North West recorded the least percentage of 18.4.
President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the discrimination against persons with disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018 after over nine years advocacy by disability rights groups and activists. The law was an acknowledgment that the disability is a human rights issue. More than 40 countries have adopted the disability discrimination legislation during the 1990s.
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