‘Subsidise Cerebral Palsy treatment to reduce burden on parents’

 The government has been urged to subsidise treatment of cerebral palsy (CP) to relieve bur­den on parents.

According to founder of Afra­koma Foundation, a Non-Gov­ernmental Organisation (NGO) which seeks to improve the lives of individuals with cerebral palsy in Ghana, Ms Amani Iddrisu, the treatment of CP was more expensive and leaves caregivers in distress and abandon the children along the way.

Ms Iddrisu, a 17- year-old student whose sister suffered from the condition and had established the foundation in her name, dis­closed this at a conference to cre­ate awareness about the condition in Accra on Thursday.

The conference aimed to pro­mote inclusion and belonging as well as advocate policy changes and advance research and educa­tion on cerebral palsy.

She said subsidising the cost of treatment and creating more cen­tres would help reduce the stigma and also prevent frustrated moth­ers from killing their children.

Ms Iddrisu indicated that per­sons with CP have some unique qualities despite the challenges, and must not be rejected but sup­ported to live fulfilling lives and achieve their dreams.

“Living with a sister with a CP condition, I have come to admire that they are special people and individuals who, like everyone else, deserve acceptance and compas­sion,” she added.

She advocated more inclusive­ness for children with CP in the educational sector, and called on policy makers to shift their atten­tion to cerebral palsy issues to help make a change.

The Deputy Minister of Health, Mrs Tina Mensah, in a speech read on her behalf, said the sector placed value on Universal Health Coverage as a means to achieving Sustainable Development Goal three by 2030.

She expressed the ministry’s commitment to collaborating with all stakeholders to strengthen the health systems and to maintain the necessary enabling environments where children diagnosed with CP and their families would, at all times, receive quality health care from competent health care staff without any hindrance.

Professor Eben Badoe, Head of Neurology/Developmental Ser­vice, Department of Child Health at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, in a presentation, said cerebral palsy was a non-progressive disorder of posture or movement caused by a lesion in the developing brain.

He said it was often caused by antenatal factors such as intrapar­tum martenal fever, premature delivery, small placenta, sudden onset of reduced foetal movement during labour, intrauterine infec­tions, among others, and called for early diagnosis and intervention during pregnancy to curb the situation

 BY VIVIAN ARTHUR

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