Posted on March 27, 2023
By Adara Development
Rebecca and Joyce
When Joyce was born with birth asphyxia, it affected her vision, hearing and communication abilities. Her mother, Rebecca, was faced with an impossible choice: take Joyce for expensive further testing and medication or watch her daughter experience regular seizures.
Rebecca’s experience is not an unfamiliar one for families in Uganda, where there are often few resources for children with neurodisabilities. Across Uganda, there are stigmas that having a child with a disability is a curse or punishment for wrongdoing, and many see children with disabilities as burdens to the community. As a result, parents often feel isolated as they raise and parent a child with a disability.
“Relatives from my husband’s side say that I am cursed,” Rebecca says. “My father in-law told my husband that this baby won’t heal, and such babies end up dying”.
Despite a limited support network and few resources, Rebecca was determined to do her best to care for her child. On World Disability Day, she took Joyce to Kiwoko Hospital in Uganda for an event run by organisations that support people with disabilities.
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Posted on March 27, 2023
By Ryan Smith, SIGN Fracture Care
SIGN Surgeon Dr. Sibiri Ballu. Photo: Chuck Bigger for SIGN Fracture Care
Traumatic injuries, including fractures, are a major cause of disability and death worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that 20-50 million people are injured every year in traffic accidents, in addition to injuries caused by falls, workplace accidents, and violent conflict. In high-income countries, people with trauma injuries are treated in a fully equipped hospital, often on the same day the injury occurs. But in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), access to fully staffed and equipped hospitals is much more difficult. Nearly 1 billion people in the world do not have access to a hospital with a reliable supply of electricity, let alone a fully equipped surgical suite.
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Posted on March 23, 2023
By Debadutta Dash, Sukarya USA
Sukarya Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation Centre. Photo: Sukarya
Abdul, a barber, runs a small shed in the Saraswati Kunj slum community with a mirror, chair, and few scissors. He says he migrated from Bengal in 2000, and after many attempts to find a job, he set up a shop independently. When his son had a fever, which didn’t go for a while, a field worker from Sukarya approached him and told him about the clinic and medical facilities in the locality. There he came across the physiotherapy unit and got counseling for the first time for his problems with arthritis. Since then, he has received medical aid from the organization for himself and his son and now calls it his family home.
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