Jean Melaine Bitty | July 4, 2025
News Brief
In Abobo, Côte d’Ivoire, Sophie Konan N’Dri is breaking barriers to sexual and reproductive health education for people with disabilities. As director of CAPH-CI, she leads inclusive workshops using accessible materials—flipcharts, sign language videos, and audio recordings—to reach those with hearing or visual impairments. Her efforts are empowering women like Adjo Kouamé and Marie Djedje to manage their health and advocate for their rights. For Ms. N’Dri, inclusion is essential: “This community deserves dignity and well-being just as much as anyone else.”
It’s a typical Saturday morning in Abobo, a bustling district of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. As residents go about their usual routines, Sophie Konan N’Dri, who lives in the Sogefia neighborhood, stands holding a flipchart that illustrates the menstrual cycle.
Mrs. N’Dri is the director of the Coordination des associations des personnes handicapées de Côte d’Ivoire (CAPH-CI), the national coordinating body for associations of people with disabilities. She says, “This flipchart is a treasure for people living with hearing impairments.”
For over a decade, Mrs. N’Dri has led awareness-raising activities for people with disabilities on topics such as menstrual hygiene, the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, and more. She explains that because of their disabilities, many in this community lack access to the accurate and accessible information they need to improve their sexual and reproductive health.
To address this gap, Mrs. N’Dri tailors her messages into accessible formats and organizes participatory awareness workshops. She creates videos and infographics in sign language for people with hearing impairments, and produces audio recordings and podcasts for those with visual impairments. Each message, she says, is crafted to be clear, simple, and accessible to everyone involved.
Aby Kamamaté, a sexual and reproductive health expert at the Rainbow of Happiness Foundation, says Mrs. N’Dri’s initiative is commendable, emphasizing that access to information on sexual and reproductive health is a fundamental right—one that must include people with disabilities. Yet, she points out that multiple barriers still stand in the way, including a lack of adapted information, persistent prejudice, discrimination, and the physical inaccessibility of health services. In Côte d’Ivoire, she notes, nearly 30% of young girls with disabilities lack access to appropriate information about menstrual health.
In addition to hosting workshops, Mrs. N’Dri regularly shares her educational materials on the CAPH-CI Facebook page to reach a wider audience. Aya Henriette Bouassa, a 35-year-old civil servant and president of an association for women with physical disabilities, says she first came across Mrs. N’Dri’s awareness videos on social media. The content helped her better manage her menstrual cycle, prompting her to mobilize members of her association. Now, every Saturday morning, they gather to watch the latest awareness videos posted on the page.
Mrs. N’Dri says that since launching the workshops, she has seen a shift in young people’s attitudes—they are now more open and willing to talk about sexual and reproductive health.
Adjo Rosine Kouamé, a 26-year-old blind woman, was attending her third workshop that Saturday. She shares that before joining Mrs. N’Dri’s sessions, she never felt comfortable discussing sexual health or menstrual hygiene with others. She says, “These workshops have helped me reclaim my dignity as a woman.” She adds that her disability had previously kept her from accessing the information she needed to improve her well-being. “Today, I can manage my menstruation on my own—I’m so happy!” she concludes.
Marie Djedje, a 19-year-old deaf member of CAPH-CI, testifies that before joining the group, she had no access to information about menstrual hygiene. But the sign language videos and subtitles have provided her with crucial knowledge. She says, “Today, I feel more confident, able to ask questions, and advocate for my rights.”
Thanks to Mrs. N’Dri’s efforts, sexual and reproductive health information is becoming a powerful tool of empowerment for young women with disabilities in Abobo. For her, inclusion is not a choice—it is vital to creating a more just and compassionate society. She concludes, “This community deserves dignity and well-being just as much as anyone else. That is the heart of my fight.”
This resource was produced with funding from the PASSERELLE project, which is implemented in partnership with WUSC thanks to funding from Global Affairs Canada.