Barriers and facilitators to sexual and reproductive health rights for Persons with Disability in Nepal: a scoping review

Persons with disability have the same sexual and reproductive health needs as people without disability but their rights have consistently been overlooked. They face numerous challenges to access sexual and reproductive health services in Nepal, however coherent evidence on nature, size, and extent of these challenges are not available. We carried out a literature review to explore barriers and facilitators encountered by persons with disability while accessing sexual and reproductive health services in Nepal. We reviewed published government policies on reproductive health and disability, searched PubMed database and used google scholar search engine to find literature published between 2011 to 2021 that reported on barriers and facilitators to sexual and reproductive health rights for person with disability in Nepal. Out of 2145 identified literature only 21 literatures meeting the eligibility criteria were included in the analysis. We found inadequate inclusion of PWDs in health sector policies, lack of knowledge about SRH needs, misconception and poor attitude and lack of social support in accessing SRH rights and services. In Nepal, people with disabilities face multitude of barriers in accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare. Multilevel measures informed by further studies on vulnerabilities and experience of different subgroups of PWDs. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: As this was a scoping review - ethical approval was not needed for the research conducted I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes As this was a scoping review - Data analyzed in the current research were review of the existing literatures in google search engine and pubmed database