Journalist initiates project on Cerebral Palsy

Mrs Hannah Awadzi, a senior journalist, has rolled out a Special Mothers Project (SMP), to carry out advocacy and education on Cerebral Palsy (CP) issues.

The Registrar Generals Department on Thursday, March 31, gave the Certificate to Commence Business under Sections 27 and 28 of the Companies Act, 1963, (Act 179) to the project handlers as well as the Certificate of Incorporation under the Companies Act.

Mrs Awadzi told Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on Friday that that the non-profit organisation, which has been active for sometime now, is not looking for donations but partnership and collaboration with groups with similar objectives to promote and educate the populace on CP issues.

“We are also part of a Parent Support Group with about 50 parents throughout the country.

Mrs Awadzi said: “Last year we rode on the platform of Sharecare Ghana to celebrate World Cerebral Palsy Day. We currently also partners the CBM, a non- governmental organisation(NGO) on a project piloting home based physiotherapy for children with Cerebral Palsy in the northern part of Ghana.

“Our Dream is for more collaboration and partnership to serve as a counselling point for new mothers with Cerebral Palsy children,” she said.

She said SMP would partner sister NGOs to organise training for mothers of CP children in basic physiotherapy and speech therapy as well as the celebration of World Cerebral Palsy Day.

This year’s World CP Day would be marked on October 5. The day is celebrated on the first Wednesday in October each year.

"We hope that corporate organisations would come on board to help us celebrate this day in Ghana," Mrs Awadzi said.

The project is also coming up with a publication titled: “The Unexpected,” to be given to parents, midwives and other health care professionals for onward distribution.

“We believe this book will inspire many families with CP children to soldier on.

“Our fervent wish and prayer is to put a smile back on a rather depressed mother because she had a CP child. To save the lives of children who otherwise will be killed or isolated from society. To see Ghana have policies that are favourable, especially in the areas of education and health for the children with Cerebral palsy,” Mrs Awadzi said.

She said Mama Lydia Bedwei, Mother of Farida Bedwei, an IT Professional, a CP patient is her role model.

CP is the most common childhood disability and does not necessarily mean learning disabilities. People with CP often have an equal or better IQ than everyone else.

Many kids with CP would and should go to mainstream schools.

There are four types of CP: spastic, dyskinetic, ataxic, and mixed.

CP affects about 17 million people and about 350 million people are connected to someone with CP.

Every case of CP is as unique as the person who has it and one child every hour is diagnosed with the condition.

It is a neurological disorder that affects body movement and muscle coordination in children.