By SAM PHIRI –

GOVERNMENT will undertake a national disability survey in an effort to systematically and interpretively meet aspirations of persons with disabilities, Community Development Mother and Child Health Permanent Secretary Elwyn Chomba has said.
The survey is expected to provide the ministry with vital information and statistics on the prevalence rates of persons with disabilities in the country.
Prof Chomba said this in a speech read on her behalf by Ministry of Community Development director of welfare, Stanfield Michelo in Lusaka during the official opening of the disability mainstreaming workshop on Tuesday.
She said the survey would also provide vital information about disability challenges and what needed to be done.
The effective integration and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the development agenda required a comprehensive and holistic approach.
Prof Chomba also called on different stakeholders to ensure that their respective spheres of responsibility provided the necessary opportunities and access to persons with disabilities.
She observed that disability had traditionally been conceptualised as a medical welfare of charity issue; a perception which he said had to a lager extent contributed to discrimination against persons with disabilities.
Zambia Agency for Parsons with Disabilities (ZAPD) acting director general Obbie Musawa, appealed to Government wings in charge of planning to modernise infrastructure for accessibility of persons with disabilities.
The ZAPD workshop which ended yesterday follows the toolkit to mainstream disability training seminar that was held at the Cresta Golf View Hotel in Lusaka last year.