Nigeria: BATTLING THE SCOURGE OF CANCRUM ORIS (NOMA)
The NOMA Children Hospital located in the Rungin Sambo area of Sokoto, Northern Nigeria is bringing succour to many impoverished children from Sokoto, Kebbi, Taraba and such far flung states like Bauchi, Jigawa and Borno States, suffering from the devastating disease known as NOMA or Cancrum Oris.
BATTLING THE SCOURGE OF CANCRUM ORIS (NOMA)
The NOMA Children Hospital located in the Rungin Sambo area of
Sokoto, Northern Nigeria is bringing succour to many impoverished
children from Sokoto, Kebbi, Taraba and such far flung states like
Bauchi, Jigawa and Borno States, suffering from the devastating
disease known as NOMA or Cancrum Oris.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1995 recognised NOMA as a
major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa, with especially
high prevalence rate in Nigeria. It is estimated that between 100,000
to one million children aged one to six years are afflicted annually.
According to the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the NOMA Children
Hospital, Dr. Hartwig Sauter, a German, "the disease thrives where
there is intense poverty and starts inside the mouth with a swelling
and then dying of tissues of the teeth, including bones and muscles,
leaving a big hole behind".
"About 9 out of 10 children with this disease die of it, and those
who survive it are disfigured for life". Sauter added.
The Sokoto NOMA Children hospital started as a pilot project in
October 1996 with a German Foundation sending teams of specialized
surgeons from Europe to carry out plastic surgical operations in NOMA
victims. Nine of such missions from Europe operated on patients at
the Sokoto Specialist Hospital, under the NOMA project until
September 17 1999 when President Olusegun Obasanjo commissioned the
NOMA Children Hospital, built by the Sokoto State Government.
At least 1849 patients have been successfully treated under the
project between October 1996 and September 2001.
Already, the hospital is overstretched in staff and available
facilities. Dr Sauter estimates that about N1.5 million are needed
monthly to run the hospital inclusive of research, training and
patient follow-up. But this is a far cry from what is available to
the centre currently from funding sources like the German Foundation
and the Sokoto State Government.
The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health is
believed to have promised to assume part of the responsibility of
funding the hospital as from next year through statutory allocations.
Not waiting for government subsidy, which may not materialize on
time, Dr. Sauter is passionately pleading for help in order for the
hospital to achieve its goals, saying "that no support in kind or
cash would be too small in the battle against NOMA and the danger it
poses to thousands of Nigerian children".
Source: The Guardian on Sunday. October 14, 2001. p. 31. By Austin
Edemodu. Keywords: Nigeria. Sokoto state. NOMA. Cancrum Oris.
Children's diseases. German foundation. Children's hospital.