Kenyan comedian leads campaign to offer corrective surgery to Ugandan children

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Juliet Nanziri wants to be a dancer and a singer. But, her hopes of achieving this dream were shattered having been born with cerebral palsy, a condition caused by abnormal development of the brain or damage to the developing brain that affects a child’s ability to control his or her muscles.

At six years, Nanziri only started walking or moving her limbs a week ago, after corrective surgery, thanks to a new campaign by a diary company-Lato milk that together with Victoria Hospital are offering free corrective surgeries to children from needy families.

Eric Omondi, a Kenyan comedian who is creating awareness about the campaign visited Mutungo where Nanziri lives to check on her recovery process. Omondi has a brother who has suffered from the same condition.

A 2017 study on the prevalence of cerebral palsy which is among others caused by infections such as malaria in babies, puts the prevalence of the condition at 2.9 per 1,000 children in Uganda.  Doctors say with surgery, sufferers can start to walk, talk or move with ease. Unfortunately, some of the patients never get to realize because the procedure is expensive for many.

At Victoria hospital, for instance, Dr Daniel Ikara, an Orthopedic Surgeon says the procedures go for not less than 5 million Shillings, yet the patient is expected to undertake reviews at different intervals through the healing process.

He said their aim for the 28 children so far handled out of the 200 targeted cases has been to ensure that children can be able to support themselves doing away with the challenge of always depending on their guardians and parents to move.

He urges parents of the operated on children to follow the guidelines given on post-operation care since already there’s a case of one who has relapsed.

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