Visually impaired children need societal and family support

Hohoe (V/R), Dec. 18, GNA – Mr Mohammed Aminu, a Senior Staff Nurse at the Hohoe Municipal Hospital, has said visually impaired children need support from their families and society to be able to live like other children.

He said the children needed to be supported to enable them to perform basic tasks, which they would execute with ease in the absence of their parents.

Mr Aminu said this in Fodome Helu during a community sensitisation organised by the Department of Children under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, Hohoe Municipality.

The programme was funded by the Royal Dutch Visio International in partnership with Presbyterian Health Service.

It was on the theme: “Caring for Children with Visual Impairment.”

Mr Aminu said when the children were able to do the basic things, it reduced pressure on parents when they were not around or when they visited places with the wards.

Mr Aminu said the children must be constantly reminded of what they were taught, adding that parents could also train the children to take part in house chores and should not see the children as incapable.

Dr Eric Kwao, Optometrist at the Hohoe Municipal Hospital, said parents must keep an eye on their wards to ensure that they did not play with chemicals or sharp objects, which could result in an injury to their eyes.

He said traditional practices such as putting sea or saltwater, onion, breast milk and squeezing the liquid from cassava leaves on the eyes of babies if they experience eye issues should be discouraged.

Rather, issues with the eyes must be reported to a health facility.

Mr Daniel Nobel Awumey, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said the importance of the community sensitisation programme could not be downplayed since it was key to the development of visually impaired children and needed to be embraced to turn around the fortunes of the children.

He said he was aware of training offered to some officials, including Social Welfare and Community Development Staff, community nurses which equipped them with requisite knowledge and skills for early detection, care and management of children with visual impairment.

Mr Awumey said the training would build the capacity of parents and other stakeholders on caring for the children and called for cooperation to the success of the exercise to the benefit of the people of the Municipality.

He urged parents to provide the children’s basic educational needs, adding that families and societies must come together to ensure the children’s total development.

Mr Jeremiah Badu Shayar, the Country Programme Coordinator for the Holistic Development Programme for Visually Impaired Children (HODVIC), said the programme aimed to ensure the community brought out visually impaired children to be supported.

He noted that the beneficiaries of the training programme were equipped to help children who might have visual problems and to easily refer them for screening and assessment.

Knowing the status of the child would also help provide basic knowledge on what needs could be provided, he said.

Mr Shayar said visually impaired children must not be hidden in rooms, stigmatised and discriminated against since there was a lot they could achieve.

He said parents would form parents support groups, which would meet periodically and look at the needs of the children and provide the needed support.

Madam Jedida Abanga, Programmes Coordinator, Presbyterian Health Service, said there was the need to promote social, health and education inclusion of children with visual impairment to enable them to access any service as other children without being looked down upon.

She urged parents of visually impaired children to speak positively to the lives of their children since they became the first people the children got into contact with.

He added: “if you, as a parent, do not speak positive means in a way, you are demoralising the child. Once you speak positively, you believe that my child is going to be able to get to the optimal irrespective of the challenges.”

Madam Abanga said she expected that parents would form a network, be able to talk to each other and share experiences and access services for their children.

Mr Akrobortu Israel, Volta Regional Director Department of Children, said a study showed that investing in the holistic early childhood care and development of children from birth; zero to eight years yielded the highest rate of return of any child development at the later stage.

He noted that everyone, including the state, had a role to play since section 16 of the Children’s Act mandated the Hohoe Municipal Assembly to protect all children within its jurisdiction while liaising with governmental bodies like the Social Welfare and Community Development Department to ensure that the children were protected from all forms of abuse.

Mr Henry Yanpalleh, Hohoe Municipal Social Welfare Officer, said the Municipality was one of the two beneficiaries of the programme.

Mr Augustine Asangbah, President, Ghana Blind Union, Hohoe Municipal, noted that there must be continuous education on the need to avoid discrimination against the visually impaired.

He called on traditional authorities to relook at some practices that tend to exclude the visually impaired and the physically challenged in their societies.

GNA