The co-host of the maiden Bolgatanga medical outreach, Prof. Mamudu A. Akudugu and his wife, Katherine K. Millar, have called on stakeholders with an interest in neuro-developmental disorders to collaborate with them to intensify education on neurological disorders.
According to Prof. Akudugu, services for neuro-developmental disorders in the five Northern Regions are limited, and it is important that a platform is created through a collaborative effort by stakeholders to offer the needed support to families and children with neuro-developmental disorders.
Neuro-developmental disorders are a group of neurological disorders that affect the development of the nervous system, leading to abnormal brain function that may affect emotion, learning ability, self-control, and memory.
Mr. Akudugu revealed that “the idea was conceived some months ago by my wife and myself to provide a platform that gives us the opportunity to reach out to children within our area here that have some neuro-developmental challenges because we understand that people have to be referred to Accra and how to even diagnose the disease is something that is challenging because the services are very limited.”
He added that “the whole of the Northern Region has only one speech and language therapist, so you can imagine the number of children having challenges with neuro-developmental disorders, and he alone has to serve the five Northern Regions.”
This, the professor observed, makes it crucial for stakeholders with an interest in neuro-developmental disorders to collaborate with him and his wife to extend the services to Districts in the Upper East Region.
He made this appeal when he spoke to Mark Smith on A1 Radio`s Daybreak Upper East Show in line with the maiden Bolgatanga Medical Outreach on neuro-developmental disorders.
The medical outreach, which brought together medical doctors, speech therapists, dieticians, and behaviour therapists, offered a platform for the screening of children for neuro-developmental disorders and capacity building for caregivers and other stakeholders, including teachers, health workers, and school owners, among others.
It aimed to educate them on the early signs and how to handle children with special needs for better growth outcomes.
The program, which partnered Mission Pediatrics, the Klicks Africa Foundation, and RISE Ghana, also had support from the Millar Institute for Transdisciplinary Studies.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Gilbert Azeem Tiroog|Ghana
