The joy of bearing a child is one that every parent would like to experience and many look forward with excitement for this.

After the birth of a child, it is the wish of the parents for that infant to develop and function fully, but what happens when that desire never becomes a reality and that child develops a form of disability or disabilities.

According to the World Report on Disability, approximately one billion people in the world are living with a disability, with at least 1 in 10 being children and 80 percent living in developing countries.  

Out of the many forms of disabilities children are confronted with, studies have indicated that cerebral palsy is the most occurring disability in the world over with 150 million living with the condition, 80 percent of which are in lower and middle-income countries.

This type of condition is generally caused by brain damage either before birth, during, or shortly after.

In Ghana, statistics for persons living cerebral palsy is not known. Caring for a child with this type of disability can be very daunting for caregivers due to the absence of social support systems for these families.

The stress experienced daily by these caregivers is very real in a country like Ghana where social support systems are weak.

In the following JoyNews Hotline documentary, some of these caregivers in parts of Accra share their chilling stories with Beryl Ernestina Richter.

You can contact the producer of the documentary on this email address: richhterberyl54@gmail.com