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A God Creation or a creation by human kind!!!!Mysterious Nodding Disease hits Northern Uganda
Uganda invites global experts over nodding disease
Publish Date: Jul 18, 2012
AS nodding disease continues to attack children in northern Uganda, international experts who have worked on
a similar disease in South Sudan, Tanzania
and Liberia
have been invited to the country to help, the Office of the Prime Minister
(OPM) has revealed.
The experts have been invited to share their experiences at an international conference on nodding disease to be held this month, the Minister of Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Dr. Stephen Mallinga told Parliament.
Mallinga was briefing the sub-committee on nodding disease about interventions by government on nodding disease syndrome in northern Uganda. Present was information and national guidance minister, Mary Karooro Okurut.
A National Committee on Management of the Nodding Disease Syndrome was established with Mallinga as its chair. Its mandate is to coordinate multi-sectoral interventions, receive progress reports and give policy direction.
There is also a sector specific committee in the ministry which comprises of only medical related institutions such as WHO, UNICEF and Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Atlanta for research into causes of disease, surveillance and vector control.
Ministry of Finance, according to Mallinga released sh2.7b to address the disease. He said OPM has so far delivered 206 metric tons of relief food worth sh535.6m and therapeutic feeds to families of affected children.
Four- fourteen seater vans and four motorcycles have been delivered to the affected districts.
He said findings of the inter-ministerial team show that Pader is the most affected district with 1,741 households registered as having cases of nodding disease and 432 households having cases of epilepsy. Pader is followed by Kitgum and Lamwo respectively.
Mallinga said the sick children have continued to improve on clinical care. Plans, he said, are underway to train more health workers.
The minister cited challenges including cases of pregnancy among children affected by the disease. He said there are people taking advantage of the mentally retarded girls.
He said the Ministry of Agriculture plans to plough and harrow one hectare of land for each household using tractors.
MPs opt to take nodding disease patients to USA
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 00:16
They say specimen taken to the Atlanta-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention might not be effective, which could explain the delay in finding the causes and cure. In an interview with The Observer recently, Gilbert Olanya, MP for Kilak county in Amuru district, said although some victims’ blood and urine samples had been taken to the USA laboratories, investigations may not be as effective as when the patients are themselves examined by experts.
“We cannot wait. The situation is so alarming and we think it is better for the children to be taken and fully examined, instead of carrying samples,” Olanya said, adding that they were considering taking 15 patients, whose air tickets would cost about Shs 60m.
“We have not yet selected the children that should travel and, because we are aware of their condition, we are still consulting to ensure that all goes well. Our major reason for this initiative is that we feel that this process [of finding a cure] is taking too long,” Olanya said.
Beatrice Anywar (Kitgum Woman MP), one of the legislators behind the move, said: “Some families are headed by women and this situation is very challenging for them because they are no longer able to dig and [engage] in any other income-generating activity [as they have to stay home taking care of their infected children].” Anywar called for a speedy solution.
Most parents of the affected children are eager to have their children taken to the USA to aid investigations and the search for a cure. Francis Okot, a resident of Nyalumunya village in Pader district, sees this opportunity, if it materializes, as his children’s hope. Having already lost one to nodding disease, his other two children are also afflicted.
“My children were healthy and normal, but this condition has made them inactive. We think the treatment deserves every attention and support, even if it is done outside the country,” Okot says.
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Finding nodding disease cure will take years – expert
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 00:09
“Until we know the underlying cause, eradicating the disease seems like a long shot,” said Dr Scott Dowell, a specialist paediatrician at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, USA.
“We’re realistic enough to know that in some cases, with these hard-to-figure-out diseases, it takes many years of investigation before you get to the bottom of things,” he said.
Dowell was speaking recently on Facing Justice, a fortnightly radio programme produced by the Northern Uganda Media Club and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. This news will particularly hit communities in Lamwo, Kitgum, Pader, Gulu and Amuru districts that have been most affected by the disease.
Experts from CDC and the ministry of Health have been involved in researching the nodding disease since 2009. Dowell says they have made some progress.
“In terms of laboratory testing, we have tested for at least three dozen different infectious agents and other causes, all of which are either entirely negative or equally distributed between the cases and the controls.
Nodding disease first came to light in 2009, although some accounts say it was first reported in 2007. The ministry of Health estimates that about 3,000 children have contracted the disease, while 200 have died. Outbreaks were first reported in Pader, Lamwo and Kitgum districts, but the disease has since spread to neighbouring Gulu and Amuru.
“I also think it’s quite likely that this is going to be a long-term issue and that both affected families and the government of Uganda need to take a realistic approach and plan for the long term,” Dowell said.
The ministry of Health has set up treatment centres in the affected districts, but patients still have difficulties in accessing medical facilities due to long distances between their homes and the centres. The ministry spokeswoman, Rukia Nakamatte, said they were aware distance to health centres remained a challenge.
“However, we have supported the local governments with means of transport to conduct outreach programmes in the various areas. We cannot set up treatment centres in every sub-county,” Nakamatte said, adding that the outreach programme had so far benefitted about 60 per cent of the infected children.
newseditor@observer.ug
