MY NAME is Hajati Hadija Nalugya, a mother of Agnes Nanyonjo, a child living with spina bifida.   Nanyonjo was born with spina bifida in 2003 and later developed hydrocephalus. Like any mother, I prepared to have a healthy baby at MulagoHospital. After delivery and regaining my consciousness, I asked for the baby. But no one was ready to tell me what had happened to my baby. The baby was hidden from me for over two days.

The nurses at Mulago hospital later told me that the baby had a wound on the back. I asked whether the baby was injured during delivery. The nurses eventually told me that the baby had a natural wound from God.

I kept wondering what wound could that be but my attendants and nurses could not tell what it was not until another doctor called Ddumba from Mulago Hospital came and explained to me what it was. She explained to me and referred me to CURE children’s hospital in Eastern Uganda.

Now just imagine the pain I went through because this was my first time to see such a baby and with less information about my child’s condition. Everybody feared my baby including nurses.

Spina bifida and hydrocephalus are not new cases in Uganda, but not much has been done to make the people aware of the conditions, how the patients can be handled, where they can be treated, or even how it can be prevented.

When you produce such a child, stigma is all around you, people come to stare at the funny baby: some think you’re bewitched; some medical personnel fear to touch; relatives disown you. If you’re not lucky enough, the husband runs away and you remain all alone with your baby in dilemma.

Ends

The post Mother of a child with spina bifida tells her experience first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Kampala Capital city Authority Executive Director Jennifer Musisi says that leaders have to restore trust in the electorates by being accountable to them.

She adds that government spends a lot of money on these leaders but many misuse the funds.

Musisi says political leaders should ensure proper service provision for the good of all community members

The post Jeniffer Musisi calls for accountability by political leaders first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

My husband was so much demoralized by my status. He no longer wanted to associate with me. He stopped referring to me as his wife.

He could rarely sleep with me as he started sleeping out with other women. I conceived my second born and he abandoned me in hospital when I had gone to give birth.

He did not visit or give me any assistance in hospital. I later heard that he married another woman. He told his friends that he abandoned me because I was no longer good in bed as I was before because of my disability. He also said he can no longer share a bed with a disabled lady.

I am struggling to raise my children as he does not give me any assistance. I have written this news piece in order to expose my problems such that people with good heart reading this piece can come for my assistance.

The post Husband rejects wife as a result of her dislocation of hip bones during child delivery first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.