Posted on: Thu 13-02-2025

The Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called on the Federal Government to prioritise noma disease and ensure that efforts are made to eliminate it in the country.

The group also called for concerted efforts to enhance the early detection and treatment of noma, and ensure that children in endemic countries are screened for the disease at the first signs of symptoms.

Deputy Medical Coordinator, MSF Nigeria, Dr Peter Ajanson, said that Noma is a preventable disease. He added that good nutrition, oral hygiene, and access to healthcare and vaccinations against childhood diseases help to prevent noma.

He told The Guardian that the disease can also be effectively treated if addressed on time and explained that it starts as gum inflammation but can quickly escalate, leading to the destruction of facial tissues and bones.

“If left untreated, can devastate the skin and bones of the face within a matter of weeks, resulting in death for approximately 90 per cent of those infected.”

Ajanson lamented that people die from this preventable and treatable disease because of the lack of knowledge about noma, saying that early detection is low, and families don’t have access to or can’t afford the antibiotics to treat it. He explained that most of the people with the disease live in poor and isolated areas, where access to health and dental care is almost non-existent.

According to him, 10 per cent of those who survive the disease often endure a future filled with pain, disfigurement, and social stigma. This disease primarily affects malnourished children or those with weakened immune systems.

World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that in 1994, 140,000 children globally were affected yearly. “The fact that this data has not been updated in more than 25 years, shows how neglected this disease is globally,” he said.

Ajanson noted that in 2020, the MSF along with other organisations, noma survivors, and Nigeria’s Ministry of Health, launched an international campaign to raise awareness and have it included on the WHO’s list of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), adding that after three years of intense advocacy and communication efforts. as well as the engagement of 30 other countries, noma was officially added as the 21st disease on the WHO NTDs List.

Following this inclusion, he urged the global health community and donors to prioritise treatment efforts and research as a means to eliminate noma worldwide.

He said: “Since 2014, MSF has been supporting the Sokoto Noma Hospital, which is operated by the Federal Ministry of Health in northwest Nigeria. MSF teams provide a variety of services, including reconstructive surgery, nutritional support, mental health assistance, and outreach activities.”

Ajanson disclosed that the MSF’s surgical team has performed 1,481 surgeries on 953 patients over the past 10 years, as well as conducted specialised and free reconstructive surgeries for noma survivors, aimed at treating 40 patients during each surgical intervention.

According to him, these procedures are carried out by a team of both international and national surgeons and anaesthetists. “Noma is a neglected disease that affects people living in poverty.

“It’s an infectious but non-contagious bacterial disease that starts as an inflammation of the gums, similar to a small mouth ulcer. The infection destroys the bone and tissue quickly, affecting the jaw, lips, cheeks, nose or eyes, depending on where the infection started.

“Noma mostly affects children under seven years old who are living in poverty. Poverty and poor health are the main factors behind the infection that leads to noma. Children with malnutrition, bad oral hygiene and diseases such as measles or malaria are particularly susceptible to noma.

“Many people also have difficulty speaking and eating and face stigma and discrimination in their communities because of their facial disfigurement. Children can experience developmental delays because of their social isolation or from the impact of childhood diseases linked to noma, such as measles and malaria,” Ajanson said.

He stated that many people who survive noma are at great risk of dying from secondary complications, as they experience physical and mental consequences, which isolate them from their communities and cause mental health problems.

Ajanson revealed that the MSF is providing surgical treatment for noma. The services are run in collaboration with the Nigerian Ministry of Health, focussing on community outreach, active case finding in the region, health promotion, mental health support and reconstructive surgery by teams of Nigerian and international surgeons, anaesthesiologists, and nurses, who travel to Sokoto four times a year.

To help eliminate the disease, he said MSF is focusing on the inclusion of noma screening and treatment into MSF projects worldwide. Ajanson also called for increased research into noma, regarding its causes and global epidemiology.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN NEWSPAER

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