Participants at the end of a two day conference on cerebral palsy called on the government in Ghana to set up inclusive community early childhood day care centres that will admit children with cerebral palsy among others.
A statement issued at the end of the conference also urged government to enhance the human resource capacity of professionals working with persons with cerebral palsy.
The conference entitles ‘Inclusion Matters: Count in Children with Cerebral Palsy’ funded by Cerebral Palsy Africa and Liliane Foundation and facilitated by SWEB Foundation, a Ghanaian based NGO, gathered health professionals, educationists, government officials and parents of children with cerebral palsy.
The statement went on to urge government to prioritize early identification and intervention strategies of cerebral palsy and to make use of Community Based Rehabilitation graduates to help bridge the gap between care-givers and health professionals.
Participants, however, commended government for the adoption of the inclusive education policy and an attempt by stakeholders to implement the provision in the document.
They also commended the existence of training programmes for rehabilitation professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, audiologists, and speech and language therapists among others.
Finally, the statement called for better collaboration between non-governmental organizations and programmes run by government.
