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Manicaland Bureau
Government is considering introducing sign language training for health professionals to enable them to offer equitable HIV services to the deaf and those living with disabilities.

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission and TB programmes officer in the Health and Child Care Ministry Mrs Rowesai Gandanga said this recently at a high-level stakeholder Forum for HIV-Sensitive Case Management System workshop held in Mutare.

“We have health care workers who are being trained to make sure they would cater for that kind of population, but the issue is that at times we have a few of them who are trained to offer such services,” she said.

“It is true that an initiative was made starting from Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and it is being cascaded to other provinces.”

In an interview with The Herald, Nzeve-Deaf director Ms Libby Foster said: “Lack of health workers who have the ability to use sign language can be a problem,” she said.