AUTHOR=Abdullahi Auwal , Wong Thomson W. L. , Ng Shamay S. M. 

TITLE=Establishing childhood disability clinics may help reduce the prevalence of disability among children in Africa: A viewpoint

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1010437

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.1010437

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Globally, there are about  a billion people comprising of about 95 million are children who experience disability. The number of people in Africa living with disability is about 80 million people; out of which 10-15% are children of school age. The causes of disability among these children include epilepsy, intellectual disability, vision loss, or hearing loss, cerebral palsy, poliomyelitis, tetanus, cerebrospinal meningitis and malaria. However, these causes of disability are preventable and can be managed with proper care. The aim of this article is to propose the establishment of childhood disability clinics in Africa in order to help prevent or reduce the incidence/ prevalence of disability among children. Some of the mandates of the clinics will be to carry out routine assessment of children for disability, to provide to caregivers on disability, to promptly prevent and manage disability or its causes. However, this requires commitment from all the stakeholders.