Living with a disability in Uganda during COVID-19: Martha’s story

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), in partnership with National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda (NUWODU), has been reaching out to girls and women with disabilities who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with basic necessities and key messaging around prevention and government directives.

On March 31st, the Ugandan government announced a nationwide lockdown and curfew to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The government also issued a set of guidelines that have created serious challenges for mobility, access to basic needs and services including food and medication, and participation in income generating activities that have left persons with disabilities (PWDs) who are already vulnerable doubly affected by these restrictions.

Naigino Martha is deaf. She lives with her sister about 30km outside of the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Martha, like many others, works as a casual labourer at a factory on the outskirts of the city. She has not been able to work since lockdown began. 

COVID-19 and the resultant restrictions have made her life very difficult. While the government has distributed food to many of the most vulnerable families, Martha has not yet received any. Her circumstances mean that Martha and her sister cannot afford or access food, basic healthcare, or protective items like hand sanitiser.

“I will not forget that day NUWODU sent me the money. We did not have anything to eat that day, not even breakfast. I thanked God that the money came in time, and I rushed out to buy sugar so that we could have breakfast – we had been living without breakfast for so long, on just one meal a day.”

Naigino Martha

In response, the Aga Khan Foundation in partnership with NUWODU has provided cash relief to support the most critical needs of women and girls with disabilities as well as to share life-saving health information.

Martha is luckily among the very few who can afford a mobile phone, allowing her to access information and receive money through a mobile payment system. However, there are still a significant number of women and girls who are yet to be reached, either because they do not have phones, or because they have yet to be identified. NUWODU and AKF are continuing to focus their efforts on locating and providing support to this most vulnerable group.

Since 2018, AKF has been working with women and youth focussed Disabled Persons Organisation’s (DPOs) in Uganda. Particular attention has been paid to those groups that operate as part of a network of organisations as these allow greater reach; especially important when face to face communication is restricted.