Report on the Therapy for Stuttering in Africa

Transcription

1 MAY 2011 ISSUE 0 I stutteringprogram@yahoo.com EDITOR S NOTE My name is Dieudonne Nsabimana, 31 years, Rwandese, stutter from my childhood. I have launched a program called THE STUTTERING MODERATOR PROGRAM that has the objective of promoting the exchange of information, And knowledge on stuttering in the world, on an equilibrium and equal basis. and to make a space for people who stutter, Speech pathologists and their friends, can exchange their experiences,knowledge and information on stuttering. The stuttering moderator program is basically a social character. their services are free of charge to its beneficiaries. THE STUTTERING NEWS is the publication of this program. And all rights are free Before launching this program, I for instance asked myself the following question: Over since the information on stuttering existed, why do they not reach the developing countries? And the answer to that question, is that almost the information on stuttering is on internet, however internet access and its utilization are not equilibrium in the world. Study of the PANOS institute, analysis showed that the G-7 countries have around 80% of the networks connected to the internet in the world and the developing countries can hardly reach 4%. Africa has around 0.9%. Continued on page 2 HAPPY READING! Report on the Therapy for Stuttering in Africa rwandastuttering@yahoo.com with the current situation, it would take 3410 years to meet the needs of the people who stutter in these 11 countries This investigation was made in the following eleven countries: Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Dr Congo, Chad, Togo, Tanzania, and Central Africa Republic Movie The King s Speech and AFRICA rwandastuttering@yahoo.com Whit that film, I recommend to people who stutter not to be discouraged and give up but to persevere in treatment..stuttering is not a sign of weakness, as some Africans say. With this film, you can see how George VI, king of England, father The results from these eleven countries were: There are 67 therapists that treat stuttering for 2,511,360 people who Continued on page 3 of the Queen Elisabeth overcame his stuttering. The king had tried many treatments in vain. He a n n o y e d the public when he spoke. But whit his s p e e c h t h e r a p i s t LIONEL LOGNE, he managed to please and convince them. Continued on page 2 1

2 THE STUTTERING NEWS MAY 2011 ISSUE Special creature or God's punishment!! The albinos are killed and their bodies are sold for used to produce traditional medicines. People in East Africa have some belief and the bad mentality on the people who are born disable as, Albino young child blind, stutterers, deaf, albinos while saying they are special of divine creature or are punished by God I would like to tell you the Mistreatment encountered by the albinos people in East African region. the albinos are born without pigmentation, their skins and their hair are white. Concerning the color of their skin and their hair, people in East Africa believe that these people can be used to produce traditional medicines. It is why The albinos are killed and their bodies are sold for that use. What that happens on the albinos in our region of the East Africa can also occur on the people who stutter if mentality doesn't change. It can serve a lesson for all of us. We should educate our people in order to such human abuses END EDITOR S NOTE continued from page 1 Continued from page 1 The Countries develop have so much information on stuttering, and had used the internet for to exchange it. Whereas the developing countries have almost no information on stuttering, they use oral and newspaper written in the communication. Between those two different modes, they need a moderator so that they can understand each other. The other problem is the language; the great of the information on stuttering is in English, whereas many people in the world use other international language other than English, such as French, Spanish and Arabic. In this program, the information and knowledge on stuttering will be well shared considering the strength and weakness of communication on one or the other side. Many methods will be used, for dissemination such as the information and knowledge on stuttering in the world, and in many languages like English, French, Spani s h a n d A r a b i c on internet, written papers and audio media. The publication and audio information, will be sent communicated through Radio stations in developing countries, hoping to inform the audience on stuttering, this has been thought of considering the weak level of alphabetization in these countries. Dear friends, together we can improve the conditions of people who stutter in the world, so that people will live in equality and prosperity. Please send me now your articles to the address below, I will be happy to sharing in around the world. Please send your articles, a complimentary or your suggestion in address below: stutteringprogram@yahoo.com Mail: The stuttering moderator program PO.BOX 2379 Kigali RWANDA please include your necessary contact Movie The King s Speech and AFRICA continued from page 1 It took time to the king George VI to accept his stuttering and to use the speech impediment to his advantage. LIONEL LOGNE was not an expert in stuttering treatment. Whit that film, I recommend to people who stutter not to be discouraged and give up but to persevere in treatment. Stuttering is not a sign of weakness, as some Africans say. Their mentality should change. they should be informed that stuttering can be treated The film received many awards and nominations. The African stutterers can take the opportunity and realize interviews and publish articles on stuttering in their countries I am ready to support those who have difficult to publish their article, pleas you can contact me on address in below rwandastuttering@yahoo.com 2

3 THE STUTTERING NEWS MAY 2011 ISSUE East Africa and stuttering I have a dream rwandastuttering@yahoo.com The stuttering you can find it everywhere in the world, but means of therapy is only privileged in the developed countries But I have a dream so that one day an African child will have the same type of therapy of stuttering as an American child or European child We thought about some solutions facing this problem so that our dream will become a reality: To train African the science of the stuttering therapy, but meanwhile we want to interest the universities, the institutes, and other people in the African child Despair developed countries, to make the extension of their research activities and therapy of the stuttering in East Africa. To contact VSO (Voluntary Service Organization) an international organization based in the U.K. In order to send in East Africa a team of the volunteers to make a therapy of child stutterers We recommend a center for information, counseling and therapy of stuttering for the children and adult in East Africa. Called East Africa stuttering centre' '(EASC) We need your suggestion so that we can conceive an efficient project to solve the stuttering problem in East Africa. END Distance Therapy Program with Rwanda The Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders (CSD) at Florida Atlantic University is pleased to announce a cooperative distance therapy program with Rwanda. This collaborative endeavor will afford graduate students the opportunity to deliver speech and language services to individuals who do not have access to them. Moreover, it will allow for continued treatment by student clinicians via webcam video conferencing. This project began in June of 2009 when Dr. Dale Williams joined a team from the Koinonia Foundation and traveled to Kigali. Over the course of the next 16 days, he attended numerous meetings about the development of this program with Rwandan businessman and various government officials including the Minister of Education Theoneste Mutsindashyaka Dr. Williams also administered speech and language evaluations to Rwandan businessmen interested in improving their communication with Americans. Not surprisingly, there were aspects of both speech and language that were different from Standard American English. These differences will be addressed in group 3 accent reduction therapy. In test runs using videoconferencing technology, Dr. Williams learned that the bandwidth in most of Rwanda is inconsistent This collaborative endeavor will afford graduate students the opportunity to deliver speech and language services to individuals who do not have access to them and often insufficient to maintain a connection. Securing locations with suitable bandwidth continues to be a challenge. Nevertheless, it is expected that, beginning in 2010, students in the CSD program will have the opportunity to conduct therapy across 6 time zones. END

4 THE STUTTERING NEWS MAY 2011 ISSUE Report of the Study of Therapy for Stuttering in Africa continued from page 1 Continued from page 1 stutter, or one therapist for 37,483 people who stutter. In 59 countries in Africa, there are Continued on page 4 about 40% that have a support organization for people who stutter In their countries. In 11 countries, which have 232,088,330 inhabitants, there are.only eleven institutions that provide courses on the treatment of stuttering. Using the universally accepted incidence rate of stuttering (1 percent of the population), there are 2,511,360 people who stutter in these eleven countries with a total of 16 clinics that provide treatment for stuttering, or one clinic for 156,960 clients. In 2010, there were 728 persons who received therapy for stuttering, in contrast of the potential of 2,511,360 who could benefit from therapy Extrapolating the number of people who could benefit from therapy and number of opportunities for therapy, With the current situation it take 3410 years to meet the needs of the people who stutter in these 11 countries. Introduction Using the universally accepted rate of stuttering, Africa, a continent with a population currently estimated at around one billion people and has a population of approximately 10 million people who stutter. People in Africa The countries in green are the countries have organization for people who stutter are not sufficiently informed about stuttering. Because of this lack of information, people who stutter are mocked and humiliated. There is also little information about treatment for stuttering which causes many people who stutter in Africa to resort to what is called "traditional therapy" which uses methods that are sometimes very dangerous. Objective of this report The objective of this study is to sensitize people about stuttering in Africa and to develop a strategy to address the problems. Methodology Questions were developed to explore therapy for stuttering in Africa. The answers were obtained by members of stuttering organizations in eleven countries and speech therapists. The study focused on five points. To discover the percentage of countries in Africa having an organization, association, or selfhelp group for people who stutter. To discover the number of universities or other institutions training people about treatment for stuttering. To discover the number of clinics available to treat stuttering To discover the number of clinicians who treat stuttering. To discover the number of people who stutter receiving therapy in the year studied. Description of the sample People in eleven countries, representing North, South, Central, West and East Africa were questioned. These 11 countries represent 16 percent of the African continent which consists of 59 countries. There are approximately 232,088,330 people in these eleven with the current situation, it would take 3410 years to meet the needs of the people who stutter in these 11 countries countries, representing 28 percent of the population of Africa. Using the universally accepted rate of people who stutter, there are approximately 2,511,360 people who stutter in these 11 countries.. continued on page 5 4

5 THE STUTTERING NEWS MAY 2011 ISSUE Report of the Study of Therapy for Stuttering in Africa continued from page 4 Continued from page 4 countries in Africa having an organization for people who stutter in 59 countries in Africa, currently there are only 23 countries (40 percent) that have an organization, association or self-help group for people who stutter. In Mauritius, the members of their self-help association disbanded their association in June The countries that currently have an organization, association or self-help group for people who stutter: Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Dr Congo, Chad, Togo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Benin, Equatorial Guinea. Institutions training people to deliver treatment for stuttering in eleven countries in Africa that have a population of million inhabitants, there are 11 institutions that train people to deliver treatment for stuttering. from the 11 institutions, 10 are in South Africa, which reflects about 91 percent of the training institutions. Nine of the countries surveyed had no training institution for treatment of stuttering. Clinics that provide therapy for stuttering There are currently only 16 clinics that deliver therapy for stuttering in the 11 surveyed countries. With 2,511,360 people who stutter in these countries, each clinic, on the average, would treat 156,960 clients. Therapists that provide therapy for stuttering In eleven African countries surveyed, there are a total of 67 therapists that treat stuttering. With 2,511,360 people who stutter in these countries, there would be one therapist for 27,483 clients.. People who stutter receiving therapy for stuttering in 2010 There were 726 people who stutter receiving therapy in 2010 of a potential total 2,511,360 people who stutter that had need of therapy. Using the information uncovered in this survey it will take 3410 years to provide therapy to all the people who could benefit from it. The figure below demonstrates the number of people receiving therapy in 2010 in the 11 countries surveyed. In Burkina Faso, 20 people who stutter received therapy from students from France in a program called ORTHOFASO. Conclusion The problem of stuttering in Africa deserves attention an should be taken seriously. It is hoped that the information from this survey may be used to encourage the World Health Organization (WHO) to professionally research the situation of people who stutter in developing countries in order to provide a solution. END Africa stuttering day It can be better to establish the Africa stuttering day. It is not selfishness, since there is a world day of the women, and another day of the African women. It has been thought well because, the African women don't have the same problems that the European or American women. I would like to tell you that the problems the people who stutter living in Africa are not the same like those the people who stutter living in the developed below is some method used by the Africans for the therapy of stuttering countries. You can imagine in this century, in some area of Africa, people make the therapy of stuttering while cutting the length of tongue During this day it would be recommended that the international and national organizations which work on the stuttering think about the people who stutter live in Africa especially where information and therapy of stuttering lack. END 5

6 THE STUTTERING NEWS MAY 2011 ISSUE With a lot of pleasure to let you know that in the next p u b l i c a t i o n, there will be a chance to find copies of the publication THE STUTTERING NEWS, in four languages, English, French, Spanish and Arabic. Dieudonne Nsabimana C'est grand plaisir de vous annoncer que, la prochain publication du THE ST U T T E R I N G NEWS ils auront des copies dans les quatre langues anglais, français, espagnol, et Arabie Dieudonne Nsabimana Please send your articles, a complimentary or your suggestion in address below: stutteringprogram@yahoo.com Mail: The stuttering moderator program PO.BOX 2379 Kigali RWANDA please include your necessary contact 6