We do not want to benefit from LEAP – CP Parents

Some mothers of children with cerebral palsy are kicking against the government’s LEAP/NHIS policy announcement for children with cerebral palsy.

The mothers said they will prefer to access the disability common fund to enable them set up small and medium enterprises that provides them and their children with long term security

Mrs Ellen Affam-Dadzie, Spokes person for the group and Executive Director of the With God Cerebral Palsy Centre, said many of the mothers will prefer to have start up capitals from the percentage of District Assembly Common Fund rather than putting them on the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) programme

“Putting children with cerebral palsy on the LEAP programme is not sustainable, the mothers want to go into entrepreneurship, we need start ups to be able to do this, we do not want the LEAP,” she said in an interview with the media

Mrs Affam-Dadzie therefore urged government to revisit the decision of putting children with cerebral palsy on the LEAP programme.

“We are available for dialogue with the government, there are organizations such as the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy that can assist with appropriate policies suitable for families raising children with cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy is a neurological condition that affects movement and sometimes speech of children; it is the number one cause of disability in childhood.

In Ghana there are no concrete policies for children with cerebral palsy, many parents especially mothers are forced to abandon their career to take care of their children with cerebral palsy at home.

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection announced last year that children with cerebral palsy were going to benefit from LEAP and free Health Insurance Registration.

  

Health Sector’s knowledge on Cerebral Palsy Limited – Research

 Knowledge on cerebral palsy among health care professionals is low compared to other disabilities, Dr Kwame Sakyi, Director of the Centre for Learning and Childhood Development said on Saturday

He said a survey conducted among health care professionals show that only about 35 per cent of health care professionals understands and are able to manage cerebral palsy.

Dr Sakyi said this at an Information seminar organized by the Special Mothers Project an advocacy and awareness creation programme on cerebral palsy for parents of children with cerebral palsy.

He therefore called for training of more health care professionals on the condition to lessen the burden of managing the condition on parents

He also suggested that health care professionals consider the inputs of parents on how the condition is managed to make it the management of cerebral palsy more efficient for both sides.

Dr Sakyi who is also an Assistant Professor at Oakland University further announced that his organization is in the process of developing a database on children with developmental delays to make it easy for policy makers to take concrete decisions on the condition.

He said they will also develop a system that makes it easy for health care professional to refer parents to the appropriate services, explaining that  the referral system make it even more frustrating for parents since they are scattered

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, Executive Director of the Special Mothers Project, noted that the project is concerned about the emotional and psychological well being of especially mothers.

“We do not oppose medical intervention; however, we want to make it easier for parents to manage the condition”

She called on parents to get and board and help create support systems that make the lives of families raising children with cerebral palsy a bit easier.

Mr Prince Osei-Wusu, a research official of CLCD took parents through some of the issues they encountered in the course of the research.