This is why these children have no reason to celebrate festive season

A child with cerebral palsy undergoes free therapy at Nyayo Gardens in Nakuru on December 2, 2015. PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH

What you need to know:

  • Other causes are infections like Rubella during pregnancy.
  • Complications that arise from pregnancy such as cerebral palsy are still ignored in the government’s maternal health programmes such as free maternity at public hospitals and Beyond Zero.

While most children will be travelling with their families and making merry during festivities, children with cerebral palsy may not have that luxury. A study released a few weeks ago revealed that Kenya’s public service vehicles do not accommodate wheel chairs and no insurance companies offer cover for children with cerebral palsy. The study which was conducted by Breakthrough Consulting and Orion Foundation, pooled 100 households in South C, Kangemi, Donholm, Buru Buru, Ruiru, Mathare and Umoja.

Cerebral palsy is a collection of disorders that affect the brain and nervous system functions. In severe cases, children become quadriplegic where the four limbs, both arms and legs, are paralysed and become dumb. According to Cerebral Palsy Society of Kenya’s executive officer Jardine Mwangeka, the condition is expensive to manage since patients need assistance on all daily activities, from bathing, eating and moving.

BRAIN INJURY

Ninety eight per cent of parents interviewed said that their children would not travel on public buses, and another 83 per cent said that even schools had no ramps. Presenting the results to journalists in Nairobi a couple of weeks ago, Breakthrough Consulting’s Edna Thiong’o said that the study also revealed that few people (54 per cent) know what celebral palsy is.

The ignorance also extended to where to seek help for these children: four out of 10 caregivers and parents (38 per cent) were unaware of any schools for children with special needs. Occupational therapist Eunice Wandei at Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya said that due to the ignorance and stigma, parents hide their children or seek medical attention late.

“Children who are brought early can be assisted to at least speak and have slurred speech than nothing at all... they can be able to move and that would be better than being completely immobile”, she said.

There is a long held notion among obstetricians that the disease is caused by oxygen deprivation—hypoxia—  in premature infants. Studies in the last decade have linked brain injury to the condition.  Periventricular Leukomalacia, or PVL, a certain type of damage to the white matter of the brain which transmits signals in the brain and from the brain to the spinal cord, and is particularly subject to injury in premature infants, has been icited as a cause of cerebral palsy.