Donor fatigue and declining corporate support at Zimbabwe’s leading medical rehabilitation centre, St Giles, is hampering efforts to effectively deliver comprehensive rehabilitation services to children with the with Cerebral Palsy (CP).
By Michael Gwarisa
Cerebral Palsy happens when there is damage to an immature brain before the age of five years thereby causing permanent disability though not progressive. In Zimbabwe, the prevalence of Cerebral Palsy is estimated to be at 1.55 per 1000 live births in rural areas and 3.3 per 1000 births in urban areas.
While majority of adult patients who receive rehabilitation services at St Giles are accident survivors, Children with Cerebral Palsy constitute approximately 60 percent of patients who come for therapy.
However, due to lack of resources, the facility is now using cloths and other unsafe equipment to support the children whenever they are in wheelchairs. The facility also does not have Cerebral Palsy Wheelchairs and is using ordinary wheelchairs not meant for CP services.
Speaking in an interview with HealthTimes on the Side-lines of a walkathon that was meant to raise awareness on Cerebral Palsy (CP) condition, St Giles Board Chairperson, Commissioner Nancy Mache said they require at least US$100, 000 to refurbish the children’s hostel, refurbish and buy equipment for the occupational department, physiotherapy department and the speech therapy department for the same children
At St Giles, because we are a not for profit organisation, we rely a lot on the friends of St Giles who donate and support the work of St Giles. Currently the community of donors have significantly shrunk and as such, we do face a lot of challenges financially and in terms of the equipment that we use on the children and adults,” said Commissioner Mache.
“We are fundraising for children with CP and we are looking to raise funds so that we can buy equipment, wheelchairs, rehabilitation equipment and to refurbish the dormitory that these children live in. There is a lot that we need. The financial needs are huge. We are trying to fundraise US$100,000 towards refurbishing the children’s dormitory among others areas that need attention.”
She further appealed to the corporate and social communities to come through and support the facility.
Betty Mazire, the Sister in charge, St Giles Paediatric Unit said the situation is forcing them to improvise and use makeshift equipment at the expense of the safety of children with CP.
“Our Unit needs tiling especially in the girl’s hostel, we also need new chairs. We improvise a lot. We don’t even have Cerebral Palsy wheelchairs. We use ordinary wheelchairs and they are not proper because our children do not have head control, so we need proper CP chairs which have buckles for them so that we should know the child is safe. At the moment, because we do not have buckles, we are securing them with cloths,” said Sister Maziri.
She added that the hostel needs new windows, painting and new bedding linen and also there is need to change the beds and replace them with courtside beds so as to prevent children from falling or any accidents.
“We improvised and made some ring mates just to ensure the children get somewhere to sit because the beds we have are not safe for the children. If we get beds with Courtsides, it will be very safe. We also need mattresses. The mattresses that we have are too thin, there is no comfort there.”
Tabeth Ratibu, the Acting Head of Department for the Physiotherapy department at St Giles said the facility is serving patients from across the country’s 10 provinces and this is having a toll on the quality of service.
“About 60 to 70 percent of the children that we see have Cerebral Palsy. We have kids who come from as far as Chipinge, Renco Mine and other parts of the country. We are serving the whole of Zimbabwe. However, the challenge that comes with serving the whole of Zimbabwe is that we don’t have modernised equipment, we have to improvise and develop some makeshift tools so that the children get the care they deserve,” said Ratibu.
She added that there is need to decentralise rehabilitation services for children with CP. However, even though Zimbabwe has other medical rehabilitation centres, the quality of service is not up to standard, hence the huge numbers at St Giles.
Children with Cerebral Palsy often face high levels of stigma and discrimination in society owing to a number of myths and misconceptions around the condition. Cerebral Palsy is damage to an immature brain before the age of five years thereby causing disability. The damage is permanent but not progressive.
Makaita Basikoro, a Physiotherapist in the paediatric division at St Giles said lack of knowledge has resulted in high levels of misinformation, stigma and discrimination against children with Cerebral Palsy.
“What can happen with Cerebral Palsy is that a child can be born normal but between the ages of one to five which is the brain development age group, something can happen. There are number of risk factors for Cerebral Palsy. These include seizures, brain injury from falling, traffic accident or falling, infections such as jaundice (known as Yellow in Zimbabwe), prolonged labour and having more than one baby in a single pregnancy, such as twins, triplets, or more, is a risk factor for cerebral palsy.
While Cerebral Palsy is not a hereditary condition, researchers have discovered that hereditary factors can predispose an individual to Cerebral Palsy. Although a specific genetic disorder does not directly cause Cerebral Palsy, genetic influences can cause small effects on many genes.
