The government of Uganda under the Ministry of Health has started a national wide campaign to set up sensory rehabilitation centers at different government health centers and hospitals to facilitate in the screening and early intervention to prevent deaf and blindness in new born babies. The government with different international donors have partnered to set up several sensory rehabilitation and early intervention centres with kids play stations at different health centers including Entebbe Hospital, Wakiso , Ndejje, and Kasangati health centers. The commissioner Disability and Rehabilitation project, Dr Stanley Bubukire on Thursday officially launched the different visual and hearing impairment centers at a ceremony organized at Entebbe Hospital. The commissioner who represented the State Health minister for general duties, Hon. Sarah Achieng Opendi lauded several different stake holders including Sense international and UKaid that have partnered in the campaign to fight deaf and blindness in children and young adults across the globe.
The Sense International Uganda country representative, Josephine Akiru said that over 75,000 infants aged (0-3yrs) have been screened for sensory impairments while 180 infants have complex sensory impairments and receiving high quality early intervention service on a weekly basis. She added that her charity organization is committed to support deaf and blind children including providing them with assistive devices and play materials for sensory stimulation. Deaf blindness is a condition where person has a combination of hearing and visual impairments which affect their ability to communicate, access information, learn and navigate their environment.
(By PEACOCK KAWEESA)
