AfricaPress-mozambique: Children with special needs in the Mozambican province of Inhambane are being abandoned, and even those looked after by their families lack proper care. The government says it lacks the resources to adequately address the issue.
Although there are no hard figures, it is apparent that hundreds of children with special needs in Inhambane province are not receiving the support they need, either from the government or other entities.
Piedosa Matsinhe’s son is one of these children.
Abandoned by her husband because of her son’s mobility problems, Piedosa is looking for the support she needs so that her child can attend school.
“I have no conditions here. I lived with the child’s father and he abandoned me to be with another woman. I’m alone with the child. Sometimes he speaks ill of the child. If I see a special school with good conditions, the child could go there,” she says.
Some women abandon their children if they are born with health problems. Helena Ernesto, head of a health unit in the Malalane neighbourhood, in Maxixe, recalls one such couple. “The mother abandoned the child, who is now with the grandmother. The father isn’t here either,” she explains.
“The challenge is huge”
Fernando Vunjane, father of a child with a disability in Inhassoro district, says that he has never witnessed any government support locally. “No children have ever been supported, nothing. We know the money comes in, but they ‘eat’ it,” he complains.
The government, through the National Institute of Social Action, has supported some children with wheelchairs and a food basket. But the number of children being assisted is low, as Emilton Matusse, spokesperson for the National Institute of Social Action (INAS) admitted to DW Africa.
“It is true that it does not cover all the children that we know are in need, but that’s because of resources. The challenge is enormous. We are going to expand [support] every year, to as many children as possible,” he promises.
