Senegal celebrated World Cerebral Palsy Day last Saturday at the National Orthopedic Device Center (Cnao) with the theme “ inclusive education “. An opportunity seized by stakeholders to advocate to the government for inclusive education for children with cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy remains the greatest burden for parents whose children suffer from it. The latter, torn between anxiety, society’s view of them and their offspring or even the abandonment of their family, live their illness in suffering. These illnesses which affect children have cost parents, but especially mothers, the loss of their jobs and their marriages. The majority of women have to take care of their children in the household for their washing, their transportation but also medical care. Despite this suffering endured in silence, the parents of these children continue to advocate for inclusive education for their children. If many people talk about special education, for this world day that they celebrated on Saturday, stakeholders are calling for inclusive education for children. According to Rawan Samb, president of the Association of Families of Children with Cerebral Palsy (Afepc), “ We asked for access to specialized inclusive education for these children, because we realized that they do not have access to education. This Monday is the opening of classes and many of them will not go to school, quite simply because they are sick and there are not enough structures, establishments, specialists who can give them adequate education for their state of health », he was offended. And to add: “ The Talibou Dabo center is the reference center for children’s education. Before, the actors took disabled children, but not heavy ones, currently, they have a department that takes care of children with cerebral palsy, that is to say, cerebral palsy (CMI). But, they don’t welcome many children “. For President Samb, the number of children affected by ICD is very high in the country and the educational offer is almost non-existent. “ Imagine the number of children, I wouldn’t say across the entire territory, but in Dakar alone, it poses a problem of care. Added to this is mobility. A child who lives in Guédiawaye, to go to the Talibou Dabo center, he has all the difficulties in the world to get there. Access, in any case, overall, remains very complicated for our children. We say Yes to education, to access to education “. For the director of the Cnao, Serigne Ousmane Ba, doctor-colonel, everyone knows that cerebral palsy is linked to fetal suffering during birth, a suffering which is at the origin of a neurological deficit which limits the activities of the child. “To summarize like this, it is to say that today it is a reality, since today’s mobilization shows once again that families suffer enormously from this handicap at home level,” he said. declared. Returning to the support measures within this center on the medical level, on the psychosocial level, Mr. Ba informed that many ministries will intervene in the care of these children suffering from cerebral palsy. “ Today, we are doing everything we can to reduce the delays in fitting these children at this center, whose role is to compensate and cope with all forms of disability. Whether it is visual, whether it is auditory, whether it is motor. And these children today, history has shown us, even in the general competition, in social networks, children, if they are well supported, if they are well supervised, manage to do better than those who do not. do not suffer from it. They can have the baccalaureate, they can claim a job, a job or even a family » M.Ba informed: « in improving access for patients, the general director of Ageroute has committed to redoing the asphalt of the center which will facilitate their movement. The Sonatel foundation is also expected to strengthen the equipment. Physiotherapists require training “. Still in this care, the problem of specialists arises acutely. For Rawan Samb, president of the Association of Families of Children with Cerebral Palsy (Afepc), these children need occupational therapists, psychomotor therapists, speech therapists, while at the Cnao, they only have physiotherapists . “Currently, on the waiting list, we have more than 200 children. The children do not do the sessions on a regular basis. After 10 sessions, they can stay 4 to 5 months to repeat them. And at this rate, the child will not be able to improve » he laments.
Denise ZAROUR MEDANG
