Parents of children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus seek government’s support

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Parents of children with disability have requested that their children should be put into consideration for government programs to help parents take care for their children, particularly those who are born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

Speaking with Radio Rukungiri, Ms. Birungi Constance, the mother of 12-year-old Cranmer Birungi, who was born with spina bifida and acquired hydrocephalus following surgery, stated that raising and caring for a childlike that is difficult.

The most difficult aspect of it is that certain schools reject children with disabilities which has exacerbated stigma among patients and their families for being marginalized in the community. Birungi has petitioned the government for funding so that they can educate, feed, medicate and care for these children. Constance Birungi told our reporter during a courtesy visit at her home in the Kitumura cell, Kyatoko ward Easter division Rukungiri municipality Rukungiri district in conjunction with Spina Bifida and  hydrocephalus

In an interview with Radio Rukungiri, Ms. Birungi Constance, the mother of 12-year-old Cranmer Birungi, who was born with spina bifida and acquired hydrocephalus after surgery, said that raising and caring for a childlike that is difficult because some schools reject children with disabilities, which has made patients and their families feel more stigmatized for being marginalized in the community. Birungi has petitioned the government for funding so that they can educate, feed, medicate, and care for these children.

One of the districts in the western portion of Uganda where babies are born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus is Rukungiri District. 

Birungi Constance asserts that the shortage of wheelchairs, medication, and transportation for Cranmer and other local challenged children makes it challenging to send them to school.

Furthermore, because they do not have the resources to support them and because the teachers are unaware of these problems that impact infants, the schools have declined to take these youngsters.

When it comes to Cranmer, his mother says he is intelligent at home because he comprehends everything. If Cranmer had the chance to go to school, he would definitely be successful, but the distance and difficulty of traveling there.