About 10,000 people with disabilities register for aid

Written by on March 14, 2019

ABOUT 10,000 people with disabilities were registered in 2018 countrywide so that they can receive help, says Zambia Agency for Persons with Disabilities (ZAPD) senior rehabilitation officer Fabian Mambwe.

Mr Mambwe said the successful registration exercise saw more people being registered to help the nation with planning for them. 

He said according to the United Nations (UN) 15 percent of every living population had a disability adding that, according to the survey that was done in Zambia in 2015 the figure stood at 7.8 percent.

“Most of the people with disabilities have not registered in Zambia, we need to have more people registered because registration is very important for planning and service provision,

“Only when you know the number of people affected that is when you are going to plan and budget well. So as at now as a nation we under budget for them,” said Mr Mambwe. 

Mr Mambwe said registration of persons with disabilities was an important exercise for Zambia for identification purposes and issue with identity cards. 

“No individual has the power to certify that a person has a disability because they are some disabilities that can be corrected and our agency only issues certificates to persons with disabilities with permanent, physical, mental, intellectual and sensory nature,

“The disability identity card is a legal document used to identify a person with disabilities, the card is also used as proof of disability when such proof is required under any State law,” he said

Mr Mambwe said a person with disability card, usually needed to present further medical documentation of the disability.

He said as an agency there key role was to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities, adding that whenever services were been given they should benefit.

Mr Mambwe warned individuals who had faked disabilities and were benefiting from organisations in the community that helped persons with disabilities to stop it because once caught the law would take its course.  


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