Leaving No One Behind

On 1^st July 2021, Sightsavers’ Judo Champion, Priya from Hoshangabad was invited to be the key speaker during a webinar on Advocacy for the vaccination of the vulnerable communities in India. The webinar was hosted by Wada Na Toda Abhiyan in association with Global Call to Action against Poverty (CGAP) and Oxfam.

Persons with disabilities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and suffer a higher mortality rate than the general population.

The objective of the webinar was to take forward the global campaign calls of the people’s Vaccine Alliance and promote equitable access for the vulnerable communities across India. During the webinar, Priya spoke on various challenges faced by persons with disabilties in accessing the COVID Vaccine. She raised issues like accessibility in vaccination centres, lack of awareness and information about the COVID vaccination and unavailability of accessible information materials.

Priya is supported under Sightsavers’ Social Inclusion Programme. She has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the National Judo Competition. She is an executive member of the Organisation of Persons with Disabilities and Women’s Committee in Hoshangabad.

Priya has talked about the various challenges that majority of persons with disabilities have been facing in accessing the COVID prevention vaccine and how that can be overcome with more accessibility and inclusion.