Via The Daily Monitor: Nodding families ask government for speedy action. Excerpt:
Relatives of children living with the nodding disease syndrome have asked the government to speed up the process of acquiring drugs to cure the mysterious disease due to the fear of severe mental strain.
Bosco Oringa, a student of Gulu University, speaking to children during the commemoration of the Day of the African Child in Gulu District on Saturday, called on parents, medical workers and the government to work together to solve the spreading problem. “I am very sure these children suffering from nodding disease might one day develop mental problems,” Mr Oringa said.
Officiating at the function, the district secretary for production, Ms Caroline Rose Adong, said there is need for urgent action from responsible authorities because the children’s future is getting ruined.
“We are afraid that with time, they will become part of the children with disability because the disease attacks the brain and if we don’t help these children, we shall not have a future for them,” Ms Adong said.
Statistics indicate that about 1,200 children from Pader, Lamwo and Kitgum districts have dropped out of school as a result of constant break down and their mental incapacitation to learn since 2010.
Disabling effects
The disease causes stunted growth among children and mental degeneration that causes permanent mental illnesses in them. She also decried the poor access to education by children with disability in the district despite the government’s support for education for all categories of children.
The government, she adds, should provide accommodation facilities in Gulu Primary School, Laroo and Gulu prison primary schools since it is costly for parents to pay for them.
