Participants at a meeting here while sharing their views on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) on the inaugural day of a two-day State-level consultation on WASH urged all stakeholders to ensure availability of WASH facilities to persons with disabilities (PWDs), pregnant women, aged people and children.
‘When we talk about WASH facilities, we think only of normal people. But there are many excluded people like PWDs, pregnant woman, aged people and children within our society, who can hardly get any benefit out of the provisions made for commons. A minor modification in the normal WASH infrastructures can help these excluded people to access those infrastructures,” observed Kalika Mohapatra, representing Handicap International, an international charity working on issues related to PWDs.
‘To make WASH facilities accessible to each and every person within a family irrespective of exclusion, it is essential to design the infrastructures universal manner,’ said WaterAid regional manager Bishakha Bhanja. Among others, Senha Mishra of Aaina, Tuhina Roy from State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) also spoke. The consultation was being organised by Pragati Jubak Sangha (PJS), a Bhadrak based NGO, being supported by WaterAid.