Children with birth defects hit hard by Covid

A health expert has said they are registering serious relapses in children with birth defects who had previously improved after rehabilitation.

Ms Florence Namaganda, a neuro-peadiatric therapist at MUKISA Foundation, a charity organisation offering rehabilitation services, in an interview with Daily Monitor last week, blamed the relapses on Covid-19 lockdowns that interrupted care.

She said constant medication and rehabilitation for a baby with a birth defect is essential in minimising disability. Children with birth defects such as cerebral palsy, a rare defect that affects balance and posture, are given varying rehabilitative care, ranging from muscle strengthening to more complex motor learning-based approaches.

“In the second week [of the second lockdown in 2021], we started getting calls from parents, saying ‘my child doesn’t have any more medicine’ because we have children who are on medication for epilepsy, and different disabilities that need daily medication,” she said.

Ms Hellen Grace Asamo, the State minister for Disability Affairs, in a statement on December 3 to MPs, said government is increasing efforts to promote and protect the right of persons with disabilities (PWDs).  She appealed to MPs to “support and mobilise resources for PWDs, especially the increment of their special grant to Shs16b in the FY2022/2023.”

About 96,000 of the 1.6 million children in Uganda are born with birth defects, according to the 2006 March of Dimes global report for birth defects that placed the country’s birth defects prevalence at 60.9 per 1,000 births.

The common birth defects in the country are spina bifida which manifests as weakness or total paralysis of the legs, hydrocephalus which relates to buildup of fluids in the brain, cerebral palsy which is disorder of the brain affecting posture and balance, down syndrome, and Autism.