Omoro: Nodding disease syndrome patients turn to begging as hunger bites

By Ivan Tolit

Severe food crisis being experienced in Te-Olam village, Odek Sub County, Omoro district has forced dozens of nodding disease patients into begging and eating food remains in different markets.

 Jimmy Kakamon, the Local Council One Chairperson Te-Olam village said a number of nodding disease patients are running away from the villages to trading centres and in markets begging food and also eating food remains from nearby hotels.

According to Kakamon, the majority now target trading centres  like Owajja, Te-Olam trading centre and  Malabar market were they go to beg and eat remains of food since their families  are no longer able to provide them enough to eat  due to  the food crisis which was  brought about by  the changing climate that  affected food crop production.

He has called upon the well-wishers and the government to consider supporting the families of nodding disease patients before the situation even gets worse.

Joe Oling, the Local Council Three Chairperson Odek Sub County  blamed the hunger being experienced by families in his area on rampant food sales and poor harvest that was brought by climate change.

He however, said that for the nodding patients begging food and eating food remains in markets and from local eating joints has not been brought to his attention.

Efforts to reach out to Okello Peter Douglas Okee, the Omoro District LCV was futile since he didn’t answer nor return our phone call.

In July, 2021 a man living with HIV/AIDs died as a result of hunger while 42 others abandoned Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in Adak village, Lakwaya Sub County, Omoro District due to severe food crisis.

Omoro District Health Department has a total of 214 people battling nodding disease.

Nodding syndrome (NS) is a neurological condition with unknown etiology. It was first documented in the United Republic of Tanzania (URT) in the 1960s, then later in the Republic of South Sudan in the 1990s and in northern Uganda in 2007. Typically,

Nodding Syndrome affects children between the ages of 5 and 15 years old, causing progressive cognitive dysfunction, neurological deterioration, stunted growth and a characteristic nodding of the head. Despite numerous and extensive investigations in all three countries, very little is known about the cause of the disease.

The disease has affected an estimated 1,834 children in northern Uganda, with reports of as many as 3,000. Etiology is unknown and children are being treated symptomatically but inconsistently with anti-epileptic drugs.