Senior health workers in the Western Urban Area yesterday ended a day’s training on Epilepsy Management at the Ramsey Laboratory conference hall on Liverpool Street in Freetown.
Epilepsy is described as a common serious neurological condition where there is a tendency to have seizures that start in the brain.
In his statement, the District Medical Officer for Western Area, Dr. Joseph Kandeh considered epilepsy as one of the neglected diseases in Sierra Leone and that it is often associated with witchcraft.
He said epilepsy is non-transferable and can be cured and denounced peoples’ perceptions which tend to associate epilepsy to witchcraft or demons.
The Director of Non-Communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Mohamed Samai, stressed that epilepsy is not communicable, noting that it is among the four major non- communicable diseases and revealed that it is a part of the Ministry’s strategy to integrate the treatment of epilepsy into the primary health care programme.
Dr. Radcliffe Lisk said epilepsy is generally categorized into partial seizure and general seizure. He said partial seizure starts in one part of the brain while general seizure starts all over the brain.
Dr. Lisk stated that although epilepsy affects all ages, the prevalence in Sierra Leone is highest in children and young adults, partly due to the age distribution of the population which is predominantly young.
He explained the causes of epilepsy to include birth trauma, febrile convulsions, cerebral malaria, meningitis/ encephalitis, trauma including war trauma and alcohol abuse.
Dr. Lisk noted that in Sierra Leone, the causes of epilepsy are misunderstood to be demonic or witchcraft related. He maintained that over half of the country’s population has the belief that epilepsy is caused by witchcraft or demons or both and two-thirds have tried traditional healing, while a quarter seek faith healing.
People with epilepsy, he further maintained, go untreated for many years during which time they are at risk of complications, adding that for patients to be successfully treated, they have to take their medications constantly and regularly.
August 14, 2013
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