6. The Nodding Disease Epidemic

When the average person thinks about prevalent diseases in Africa, the top three choices are malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. If we magnify just Central Africa, these same diseases would prevail. But what about a disease with no known cause? And no official name? And the fact that it only affects small children in Uganda and Sudan?

Have you heard of it? It is informally known as "nodding disease." I had never heard of it either.

Nodding symptoms date back into the 1960's in Sudan and more recent years in northern Uganda. Areas of Tanzania have also reported similar symptoms but there is still speculation about a connection.

Nodding disease affects children ages 5-15. It is a brain disease that starts with an involuntary nodding of the head (similar to dozing off) and develops into severe seizures, stunted growth and extreme mental retardation.

Kids who look like they are 5 or maybe 6-years-old, are actually 12 or 13. These children are losing their adolescence. A child who is supposed to be in school or kicking a ball with friends is tethered to his house so he doesn't wander off. Because they do not fit "social norms," some children with nodding symptoms are considered dangerous and scary. The mental retardation that develops is so severe that they are kicked out of schools and parents are forced to spend every minute watching a child to prevent their death.

A growing number of these children have been dying because of a lack of supervision. Falling into fires and walking into traffic are common causes of death, as well as parents abandoning children on the road side when symptoms first appear. With the poor conditions that families already live in, some parents find no other option than to relieve themselves of the burden of a sick child.

There is no known cause. There is no effective cure. Members of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have been tirelessly researching nodding disease and have yet to come up with more than basic theories about the origin. Some theories include post-traumatic stress disorder (from the horrific events in northern Uganda and Sudan initiated by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army), vitamin deficiencies or malnutrition and rampant genetic disorders. Each theory brings about questions of validity. Why aren't these symptoms arising in other African countries ravaged by war? Why is it only in Uganda and parts of Sudan that malnutrition would cause this disease?

Research continues steadily, but there is an issue with funding and where resources will come from in the future.

Unfortunately, if this disease appeared in America, there would be no end to the funding that is given. With all the money that the world spends on military each year ($780 billion US), protecting ourselves from each other, imagine how many children could possibly be cured of nodding disease. Or given a better life situation ... one where they aren't tethered to their home for days on end.