More than 2 300 people in the Shiselweni Region have difficulty walking or climbing steps, with mobility emerging as the most common disability recorded in government’s social registry.
The National Dynamic Social Registry (Imbeleko) records show 2 304 people with difficulty walking or climbing steps. Of these, 1 239 are female while 1 065 are male. The figures are contained in the Shiselweni Region pilot results of Imbeleko.
The registry recorded people across a number of disability categories, highlighting different forms of difficulty experienced by residents in the region.
After mobility difficulties, 987 people were recorded as having difficulty remembering things or concentrating. This comprised 563 males and 424 females. The registry further recorded 897 people who have difficulty seeing even when wearing glasses. Women accounted for 487 of these cases while 410 were men. A total of 610 people were recorded as having difficulty hearing even when using a hearing aid, comprising 348 females and 262 males.
The assessment also recorded 609 people with difficulty understanding or being understood using everyday language. Of these, 356 were male and 253 were female. Another 577 people were recorded as having difficulty with self-care such as washing all over or dressing. This category comprised 331 males and 246 females.
The disability figures form part of a much broader database which government intends to use to identify vulnerable households and individuals and improve the targeting of social protection programmes. The presentation says the data shows varying levels of vulnerability between localities and communities and warns that these differences may require a prioritisation strategy to prevent inequality from becoming further entrenched.
Government says the database provides a way of identifying vulnerable households and individuals using evidence-based targeting rather than relying solely on broad geographic classifications. This is expected to assist in determining where social safety net programmes should be directed and which groups require greater attention.
The policy implications contained in the presentation specifically identify persons with disabilities among the marginalised groups that could benefit from intentional economic empowerment.
The recommendation places disability within a broader social protection framework rather than treating it only as a welfare issue. The presentation proposes that programming should be targeted through gender-sensitive strategies because of the vulnerability of female-headed households and other marginalised groups, including persons with disabilities. It also notes that the differences in population sizes and vulnerability levels between constituencies should be taken into account when resources are allocated.
This means that the registry could potentially influence not only who qualifies for assistance but also how government prioritises communities when implementing social protection programmes.
Government estimates that the region has 47 260 households based on population growth projections from the 2017 Census.
The registry recorded coverage of 47 766 households, although 3 083 were classified as vacant or non-consenting. This left 44 683 registered households in the database ready for targeting.
The registry also provides a population profile for the region, recording 184 486 people, of whom 98 720 are female and 85 766 are male.
Government says the information collected through the registry should help ensure that national resources intended to assist vulnerable people are distributed more equitably. The presentation notes that state resources intended to assist people in constituencies may require weighting according to the proportion of vulnerabilities in each area. It argues that such an approach would help achieve a more equitable impact because the size of populations and the concentration of vulnerabilities differ between constituencies.
For persons with disabilities, the data could therefore provide government with a clearer picture of the scale and nature of difficulties experienced by residents and potentially inform future interventions.
However, government also acknowledges that some of the information in the registry requires improvement.
Among its recommendations is a review of the questionnaire to address inconsistencies in areas including education, disability, water and sanitation. It also calls for stronger training of enumerators and supervisors, improved probing and validation of responses and a strengthened quality assurance team to improve the reliability of the information collected. The survey further recommends regular updating of the poverty status of households once a new Eswatini Household Income and Expenditure Survey report becomes available.
