Disability inclusion and COVID-19: Guidance for WASH delivery

Around 15% of the world’s population has a disability. People with disability are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 and are more likely to be disproportionately affected by the health, economic and social impacts of the global health pandemic. Many people with disability face multiple barriers that prevent them from accessing basic hygiene that would help protect them from exposure to COVID-19.

This guidance note, Disability inclusion and COVID-19: Guidance for WASH delivery, was developed by Water for Women and CBM Australia to provide some key principles, considerations and actions which Water for Women Fund partners, and the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector more broadly, can apply to strengthen disability inclusion in their COVID-19 programming responses and adaptations.

This includes:

• Key challenges facing people with disability in COVID-19 and WASH
• Key disability inclusion actions for all WASH and COVID-19 programming
• Additional actions for specific WASH and COVID-19 interventions

Agencies are encouraged to involve people with disability and their representative organisations in identifying context-specific issues and solutions, and to seek further advice to guide implementation of the actions listed below.

This Guidance Note was authored by Asahel Bush, Teresa Lee and Cristy Gaskill from CBM Australia, Disability Inclusion Advisors to Water for Women Fund. Thanks to Joanna Mott, Phoebe Mack and Chelsea Huggett for their contribution to this document.

Attachments

• WfW-CBM-Guidance-Note_COVID-19-WASH-Disability-Inclusion_FINAL