Epilepsy in Sierra Leone

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Adverse Effects
People suffering from epilepsy in Sierra Leone face many challenging problems. The most tragic are burns often seen in women who usually cook in open fires and sustain severe burns if attacks occurs while cooking. In our sensitization activities we emphasize the importance of women with epilepsy avoid cooking in open fire of even cooking at all but the realities are such that this cannot be avoided in most cases. We then encourage them to place the fire at...
Read MoreEpilepsy Clinics
Even when people with epilepsy decide to seek medical treatment they face an uphill task. Firstly there are insufficient clinics in the country to cater for their needs. At the present time there are three clinics in the Western Area, one clinic each in Bo, Pujehun and Bonthe in the Southern Province, one in Kailahun in the Eastern Province and one in Makeni in the Northern Province. In addition there are more than a dozen outreach clinics in every...
Read MoreSensitization Activities
A lot of attention is placed on education in our quest to reduce the effects of epilepsy on the individual and community. Sensitization is therefore aimed at these two target groups. The community may either support or alienate people with epilepsy depending on their beliefs and attitudes with respect to the condition. There are many who believe that epilepsy is contagious and patients must not be touched even when having an attack. Over 50% of people also believe that epilepsy...
Read MoreCauses of Epilepsy
In Sierra Leone, epilepsy starts at an early age with the mean age of onset being 12 years. Many of the cases are due to birth injuries, infections in childhood particularly cerebral malaria and meningitis, febrile convulsions and trauma. As a result of the Civil war in Sierra Leone which ended in 1992, we see many cases of head injuries resulting from gun shots, shrapnel damage and machete assaults. Road traffic accidents are also common, many associated with traumatic...
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