Macoha trains 40 people in care of children with disabilities

Malawi Council for the Handicapped (Macoha) has trained 40 caregivers in Nkhata Bay on how to take care of children with disabilities.

Macoha rehabilitation officer for Nkhata Bay, Matatiyo Chirambo, said many children with disabilities face challenges in community-based childcare centres (CBCCs) due to caregivers’ lack of skills in caring for such children.

He said some CBCCs avoid enrolling children with disabilities because they do not have skilled staff to handle them.

In his remarks, one of the trainees, Gibson Ng’oma, praised the training and said its main beneficiary are children, especially those with disabilities.

“The training has been an eye opener to me and my colleagues. I expect more children with disabilities to enrol, now that we have the skills. For example, we can now easily identify children with hearing and visual impairments and those with learning difficulties,” said Ng’oma.

Some of the topics covered during the training included the Disability Act, and disability language.