Kenyaโs Ministry of Health has announced plans to mandate Braille labeling on all pharmaceutical packaging.
The initiative Ministry of health says will bridge inclusivity gap by providing crucial informationโsuch as health product names, expiry dates, and usage instructionsโto support visually impaired individuals.
The announcement was made during the First 2024 Persons with Disability Summit held at the Kenya Institute of Special Education themed a disability inclusive health and HIV response.
Principal Secretary of Health, Medical Services, Harry Kimtai, emphasized the importance of this initiative. โThe government is going to take up as a policy directive to work with pharmaceutical manufacturers to incorporate Braille on all pharmaceutical packaging,โ he stated. This decision emerged from discussions at the summit, where participants highlighted the significant barriers faced by people with disabilities in accessing healthcare, particularly concerning HIV/AIDS and ion particular condom use.
Kimtai pointed out that individuals with disabilities often encounter multiple obstacles in healthcare settings. โThese barriers include physical inaccessibility, communication issues, stigma, and discrimination,โ he noted. He elaborated that the visually impaired often struggle to read medication leaflets, leading to potential medication errorsโespecially for those on multiple prescriptions.
The Ps urged people living with disability to register in the new Social Health Insurance Authority saying that that the benefits packages will support them with assistive devices and they will register as persons with disability.
Dr. Ruth Laibon Masha, CEO of the National Syndemic Diseases and Control Council, underscored the necessity of tailored interventions for the disabled community. โWe need to work with disability communities to improve how we deliver and design healthcare services,โ she said.
She added that majority of the visually impaired also reported experiencing challenges in identifying ARV medications at home and need to design use of different containers to distinguish different drugs.
Masha said she received the persons living with disability communities concern about lack of persons living with disability data gaps and that current HIV/AIDS materials frequently overlook them, noting the participants concern on the absence of Braille information on condom usage.
โWe have come to appreciate different forms of disability including those that are not physically seen and in relation to human sexuality reform and listen to their experiences when we design and implement interventions, prevention and treatment tools.โ
Jackson Agufana, CEO of the Kenya Union of the Blind, echoed these sentiments, stating that disabled persons are among the most underserved populations in healthcare. Disability has always been taken as an afterthought, he said.
โWe do not have braille materials, large print formats and audio tactile which are important for the persons with disability on HIV and other health information dissemination therefore making access to information poor.โ
โHIV AIDs continue to be a major challenge in Kenya and disabled persons have never been included the way is required, prevention efforts have failed to integrate messaging specifically targeting the blind or deaf,โ he pointed out. This lack of targeted information creates significant risks, as those who are visually impaired may not know how to properly use condoms or understand their expiration dates.
โWe do not reliable data of the persons with disability desegregated on HIV therefore it becomes difficult to allocate resources for persons with disability.โ
Agufana highlighted the importance of user-friendly condom packaging, saying, โThe disabled persons are human too, and have feelings like anyone. They are also at risk of contracting the virus, hence our concern to have condoms labeled in Braille.โ
Dr. Samuel Kinyanjui, AHF Kenya Country Director, stressed the importance of supporting caregivers. As parents and other people taking care of the disabled, we should understand that assistive devices have been included in the new health insurance scheme, Social Health Authority (SHA) and they are also given tax breaks and other privileges which people should know.
โWe should also look at what should be done to minimize disability, like reducing medical errors,โ he added that โWe should understand that, first, a person with the disability is a human being, first, before anything else. โEmphasizing that understanding the human aspect of disability is essential for effective healthcare planning and delivery.โ
Benson Isaboke, chairperson men with disabilities society of Kenya, said that gender based violence especially among men living with disability is often ignored because people rarely talk about it.
Despite some initiatives, like LVCT Healthโs training of peer educators to be fluent in sign language, many challenges remain in ensuring adequate healthcare access for people with disabilities.
The need for comprehensive strategies to address inclusivity gaps was a recurrent theme at the summit.
As Kenya takes steps toward a more inclusive healthcare system and achieve the UHC objectives, introduction of Braille labeling on pharmaceutical packaging represents a significant leap forward.
This initiative will not only empower individuals with disabilities but also aims to foster a more equitable healthcare environment for all Kenyans.
