Cerebral Palsy is a neurological disorder caused by a non-progressive brain injury or malformation that occurs while the child's brain is under development. This type of birth defects, pose a public health concern to the society, immediate family members and individual parents. The parents’ expectations to have a normal child becomes a nightmare when the child they were expecting is born with cerebral palsy. Therefore, revealing the experiences of mothers of children born with Cerebral Palsy is important in the process of finding ways to support these mothers and their children. The study explores and describes the experience of mothers of children with cerebral palsy. A qualitative approach following phenomenological, explorative and descriptive design was used to explore and reveal the experiences of mothers of children with Cerebral Palsy. The population for this particular study consisted of mothers of children with cerebral palsy in Oshana region and a sample was drawn from this population using purposive sampling method. Data were collected through indepth interview with 12 (twelve) mothers. The transcribed interviews and narratives from the research notes were organised into codes, main themes and sub-themes. Mothers were shocked, worried and were in the state of disbelief when they learnt about the condition of their children. They felt guilty about the child’s disability and blamed themselves as the reason for the disability of their children. They were traumatized by a family member or spouse who failed to accept the child with cerebral palsy. In order to alleviate the psychological stress, trauma, pain and disappointments, it is of utmost importance to develop an educational support program in the form of a stress coping framework to support these mothers to cope with the high stress levels. centers where they can overcome their psychological problem. There is a need for a coordinating body or counselling centers where parents of children with cerebral palsy should be referred after the final diagnosis is made to give appropriate direction and couselling to these parents, thus reducing stress levels.  

Background: Diarrheal diseases due to rotavirus infection contribute greatly to morbidity and mortality rates of babies and young children in many developing countries. This public health concern can effectively be reduced by the use of the rotavirus vaccine, though there is an anecdotal evidence indicating that despite introduction of the vaccine the number of cases of diarrhoea diseases are still high in Namibia, particularly in Kavango east and west regions. Objective: This study evaluated the effectiveness of the rotavirus vaccine in preventing diarrhoea cases among children under age five years in Kavango regions. Methods: The study employed a quasiexperimental design comparing diarrhoea cases before (2010-2013) and after (2014- 2017) introduction of the rotavirus vaccine among children under age five years. Data were extracted from District Health Information System version 2 and analysed by using one way analysis of covariance. Results: Before introduction of the rotavirus vaccine, there were 14 500 diarrhoea cases, which is 1.6% rate of infection. After introduction of the rotavirus vaccine, there were 14 400 diarrhoea cases, which is 1.58% rate of infection. This is supported by the effect size (partial eta2) of 0.01%, which is very small. The trend of diarrhoea cases after rotavirus vaccine introduction fluctuated with no major decline of diarrhoea cases. Conclusions: The study concluded that rotavirus vaccine is less effective in preventing diarrhoea diseases among children under age five years in the Kavango regions. Further research is needed to substantiate these findings as other factors can contribute to fluctuation of diarrhoea cases.