Nodding disease: Govt to train special health workers

Mar 06, 2012

The Government has opened a centre in Kitgum to treat victims of nodding disease and train health workers.

By Raymond Baguma and Nicholas Kajoba
 
The Government has opened a centre in Kitgum to treat victims of nodding disease and train health workers.
 
While addressing journalists on the progress made in managing the disease, the health minister Dr. Christine Ondoa  and Dr. Joaquim Saweka, the World Health Organisation (WHO) resident representative in Uganda said the health workers will be deployed at Atanga Health Centre in Pader, Palabel Kal Health Centre in Lamwo and Kitgum Hospital.
 
Ondoa also said samples of blood, stool and skin had been taken from the patients to check for parasites and river blindness.
 
She said C-T scans had been performed to detect epilepsy because the disease presents itself with epileptic seizures.
“Most of the affected children are stunted and malnourished since they have poor feeding habits. They are receiving the necessary drugs as prescribed in the revised medical kit,” Ondoa said.
 
Treatment and screening of children will be done in the districts, while the parents of the affected children will receive counselling services.
 
Meanwhile, the condition of the 25 children from Kitgum district, who are suffering from the mysterious nodding disease, has improved, doctors at Mulago Hospital have said.
 
Dr. Hellen Aanyaa, a paediatrician at Mulago hospital, yesterday said the children were better and could be discharged at the end of the week.
 
She was briefing the health minister Dr. Christine Ondoa, who visited the hospital’s Acute Care Unit where the children are admitted.
 
The disease was first reported in 2009 with cases in Kitgum, Lamwo and Pader districts in northern Uganda.
So far, over 3,000 children, mainly boys between the ages of five and 15, have been affected, with 170 reported dead.
The affected region lies within an area where river blindness is prevalent, according to WHO.
 
Nodding disease is believed to be a new type of disorder characterised by head-nodding episodes that consist of the repetitive dropping forward of the head.
 
The nodding is sometimes precipitated by food or cold weather and is often accompanied by other types of seizures or staring spells.
 
During the episodes, the child stops feeding and appears non-responsive with or without loss of consciousness.
There is a deterioration of brain functions and growth retardation in some cases.
 

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