household of persons with disabilities a beneficiaries of the program. It provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor in the Philippines including rice subsidies. Barriers in the full realization of right to health of women with disabilities High poverty incidence among women with disabilities The link between poverty and disability goes in both directions – poverty can lead to disability through poor living conditions, malnutrition and lack of access to health services. At the same time, disability is a cause of poverty due to lack of employment and education opportunities. Persons with disabilities are among the poorest of the poor in any country including in the Philippines. While there is lacking studies on national poverty level among persons with disabilities, two studies conducted in select cities of Metro Manila and in Rosario Batangas revealed poverty incidence amongst persons with disabilities is higher compared to the general population. In Metro Manila, more than 40 percent poverty incidence amongst persons with disabilities compared to 2.6% for the whole Metro Manila while more than 60 percent poverty incidence amongst persons with disabilities in Rosario Batangas compared to just 10.3 percent for the general population in that region.9 The high poverty incidence among persons with disabilities makes them prone to hunger, particularly women with disabilities who shoulder the burden of looking for extra income to feed their family. As shared in the FGDs, their income is insufficient to cover other household expenses. “Malapit lang ang bilihan ng pagkain sa amin. Pero mahal ang bilihin o ‘yong mga binebenta. Kung tutuusin talaga, kulang ‘yong income namin para sa ibang gastusin. Tamang-tama lang sa pagkain.” Lack of sustainable income to purchase food Access to food is directly related to income of women with disabilities – it determines what, when and how much is eaten. Most women with disabilities do not have opportunities to receive a quality education; hence, they also lack the opportunities to decent employment and income. Employment and social security are crucial means of obtaining food for women with disabilities. Women with disabilities source of income are often meager and irregular, either coming from informal employment or cash transfers from family and relatives. Because majority of women disabilities are primary care givers and shoulder the burden of household 9 Poverty Reduction for the Disabled in the Philippines https://www.dropbox.com/s/7zp7b0ykcujc7g3/moriJRP151-Philippine-PWD-Livelihood.pdf?dl=0 or http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Download/Jrp/151.html (accessed on May 12, 2015) and Persons with Disabilities in Rural Philippines: Results from the 2010 Field Survey in Rosario, Batangas, a discussion paper series number 2011-06 (accessed on May 12, 2015) http://dirp3.pids.gov.ph/ris/dps/pidsdps1106_rev.pdf 23