Budaka District leaders worried as 'strange' disease strikes
The overwhelming cases of persons living with Spina bifida, and hydrocephalus have shocked Budaka district leaders.
Hydrocephalus is a condition that occurs when fluids build up in the skull and causes the brain to swell.
Keep Reading
Whereas Spina bifida is a common disabling birth defect in which the foetal spinal column does not close completely.
During the regional awareness stakeholders' engagement meeting held at the district headquarters, Stephen Katanda the chairperson of Spina bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Uganda (SHA-U), revealed that Tororo district is leading with over 250 cases, followed by Budaka 160, and Bukedea 100 recorded annually.
He attributed the causes to poor nutrition saying the foods consumed contain folic acids as he advised Mothers to first swallow folic acid tablets 8 weeks before conceiving to avoid this infection.
Emmanuel Pajje the district chairperson acknowledged the upsurge of such cases stressing that the majority of them have been locally treated incommunicado thus making it difficult for them to be identified in communities.
He said this had blocked the opportunity of the affected persons to access specialized treatment at CURE hospital Mbale.
While pledging total support, Pajje urged all stakeholders to take this as a serious concern that needs affirmative action.
‘’I wish to draw the attention of council members led by the district speaker that whatever we are discussing here with SHA-U should be picked at policy level and find a way of creating linkage in our budgeting and planning processes so that we begin catering for people with such conditions’’ he said.
He said the findings of SHA-U are an eye-opener to all stakeholders to come together and fight the silent killer which parents still attribute to witchcraft and they decline to take their children to hospitals.
William Eidu programs officer spina bifida and hydrocephalus Association of Uganda called on the district officials to include persons living with spina bifida in their planning processes for equal service delivery.
He said SHA-U focuses mainly on inclusive education, health and rehabilitation, and human rights advocacy.
Adding that the regional meetings held in Tororo, Budaka, and Bukedea are in preparation for the national celebration every 25th October of the year.
Under the theme strengthening stakeholders’ collaboration for active service delivery to persons living with SPINA, BIFIDA, and hydrocephalus’’.
Kyazike Prossy Gonza persons living with spina bifida appealed to parents to desist from subjecting such kinds of people to extreme forms of human rights violations.
‘’People should treat us like normal persons other than taking us as outcasts in society we can in most cases do much than what the normal persons do’’ she said.
She revealed that children of such nature face additional forms of discrimination and are prevented from equal access to education, health, and other social services.
