THE National Coordinator, Noma Aid Nigeria Initiative (NANI), Dr. Charles Ononiwu, has said that extreme poverty, malnutrition, poor oral health, poor childhood immunisation, and ignorance top the list of reasons children in Nigeria come down with noma, an infection that causes gross facial deformity, and complications or death in its extreme forms.
Ononiwu, head of the Noma Centre at the National Hospital in Abuja, said Noma disease is a “face of poverty” in Nigeria because it affects mainly malnourished and debilitated children between the ages of two and seven years, and their parents, due to poverty and common myths and misconceptions in the community, only seek medical care after the damage is extensive.
He declared the need for high suspicion of noma in malnourished children with sores in their mouths and asked that such children be taken to the dental clinic that is closest to them for proper assessment and treatment.
According to him, at that stage, with a good diet, good oral hygiene, and antibiotics, the facial deformity may be prevented.
“Noma is a gangrene disease caused by a bacterial infection that starts from the gum in the mouth. It affects mainly malnourished and debilitated children between the ages of two and seven.
“The damage happens literally about one week between the time they have something like a sore in their mouth and it takes out a portion of their face.
“When such a thing happens, especially for those not educated and who don’t even have money to seek treatment at the hospital, such children end up dying. Only about 10 percent of the children affected by it survive, however, with gross facial deformities.
“Like in Northern Nigeria, when they are asked to go and buy drugs or pay for anything, they will just be looking at you. In their minds, I don’t have much money; even if this child dies, whatever I have, I will use it to look after the other children. That is the main challenge.”
Dr Ononiwu stated that about 25 patients are currently undergoing treatment at the Noma Centre in the National Hospital, Abuja, with three due for surgery, and all their treatment, including feeding and transportation for their carers, is free.
“At first, they were 14, and two of them came in severely malnourished, and two had frank kwashiorkor, so we had to treat that first and other diseases they came in with like malaria and pneumonia so that they could be in good condition for surgery,” he stated.
He declared that treatment for noma in Nigeria is free, including transportation and feeding for their carers, and urged Nigerians to put a call to the centre when they notice cases in their community.
“Once they call us and we know that it is a noma case, we take over from there to ensure they can get treated for free inside the National Hospital, Abuja.”