- The National Council for Persons with Disabilities is conducting a two-day outreach programme to help those targeted.
- NCPWD urged locals bring out PWDs to hospitals for therapy to improve their health
Image: KNA
At least 250 children from Garissa living with disability will be assessed for therapy and given wheelchairs and other assistive devices to improve their mobility.
The National Council for Persons with Disabilities is conducting a two-day outreach programme to help those targeted.
The agency urged communities in the region to stop stigmatisation of children with disabilities and instead bring them out to hospitals for therapy to improve their health.
Speaking to journalists in Garissa town recently, council chairperson Winfred Mbugua said they are working with hospitals to diagnose and start early medication for disabled kids to help them walk or talk in future.
The two-day outreach programme was conducted in collaboration with the Kenya Institute of Special Education, Garissa Referral Hospital and Hope Mobility.
It sought to reach at least 250 children in Garissa county for assessment, therapy and assistance with wheelchairs and other assistive devices to improve their mobility.
Some of the causes of developmental disabilities and disorders include prolonged labour, especially for people who are far away from hospitals, home delivery, infections during birth and premature births.
“There is a lot of stigma in the communities, especially with cerebral palsy, where parents keep their children hidden or secluded from others, even making it hard for these children to be brought for assessment and medication,” Winfred said.
“We also have a challenge in accessing children whose parents stop bringing them for therapy, hence losing all the improvement achieved.
“Due to this, we have been training some parents the basic home therapy techniques so that they may be able to help their children while they await appointment dates.”
She said that taking disabled children to therapy and schools will help them in future, especially for economic purposes, where with knowledge, they can earn a living on their own.
Apart from donating assistive devices, the council is also doing other programmes, including cash transfers for parents and guardians of children with disabilities, scholarship programmes and building friendly infrastructure for special schools.
Benjamin Sifuna, an occupational therapist urged the government to invest in training more therapists noting that there are only three therapists at the Garissa level 4 Hospital who are overwhelmed by more than 30 patients per week.
He called on all parents with children living with disabilities not to shy off from bringing them to receive the required medication to ease the severity of the disabilities.