By Kabuye Ronald
Ministry of health has revealed that they are working on an arrangement to make Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus treatment and surgeries available at all regional referral hospitals from the three known hospitals.
The revelation has been made by Dr. Olaro Charles, the director curative services at the ministry of health during the commemoration of the World Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus day held in Kampala under the theme: A call for National action to reduce the prevalence of birth defects through food fortification; folic acid supplementation and dietary diversity in the country.
The management of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus are currently done in three facilities that’s: Mulago National Referral Hospital, Mbarara Regional referral Hospital and Cure hospital but Dr. Olaro said that the long time plan of government in addition to the current structure of the regional referral hospital there neurosurgeons which are provided and in the current budget parliament allocated money for CT scans for the same hospitals.
“To effectively use the CT scans in regional hospitals then we need to deploy neurosurgeons and when you have them at those facilities then they you can handle those services”
Dr. Olara also urged the women to have pre conception planning which will enable them start taking Folic acid before and during pregnancy in the first one month.
“What normally happens is that when people miss their periods, they would want to wait for another month to confirm whether they are indeed pregnant and by that time you are already beyond 28 days and the defect is already formed. I urge that the moment you miss the menstrual periods visit the health facility and then you can be given the folic acid supplementation.”
Ruth Nalujja, the National coordinator of Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Uganda (SHAU) called for equal and social inclusion of children with Spina bifida majorly because they are always incontinent thus social inclusion is very difficult because of the stigma associated with their condition hence so many have been left aside.
Nalujja also says the infrastructure and environmental accessibility has become a very big barrier to social inclusion of children with spina bifida giving an example of the educational sector saying that most of their children are incontinent but when they reach the school the environment is not fully accessible and yet they need clean water, soap, toilet and wash facilities to clean themselves about four or five times in a day.
Spina bifida is a congenital birth defect, which means it develops during pregnancy and is present at birth while Hydrocephalus is also called “water in the brain” and the condition occurs when there is an imbalance between the amount of cerebral spinal fluid that is produced and the rate at which it is being drained.
It is estimated 600-800 children in Uganda are born with Spina bifida each year while 3600 -5400 are born with Hydrocephalus. The children and their families face lifelong struggle of ill health, disability and stigma, often with little or no support from their families, communities, or the health care system.
Studies show that micronutrient deficiencies, notably lack of vitamin B9, (folic acid), vitamin A, and Iron, among mothers in the first 28 days of conception contribute up to 70% risk of birth defects.
