Let’s find solution to foot disease
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja gives money to people battling podoconiosis at Busiriba Health Centre II in Kamwenge District on Saturday. PHOTO/ALEX ASHABA
What you need to know:
- The issue: Podoconiosis
- Our view: Why, then, doesn’t the government roll out a mass sensitization - just like for HIV, Covid-19, polio, etc - in the affected communities and those neighbouring it?
The revelation in this newspaper yesterday that at least 500 Kamwenge District residents are at various stages of battling podoconiosis, a disease similar to elephantiasis, is puzzling.
For context, Podoconiosis, according to the World Health Organisation, is a “result of a genetically determined abnormal inflammatory reaction to mineral particles in irritant red clay soils derived from volcanic deposits”.
The UN health watchdog says podoconiosis is more widespread in Africa, Central America and northwest India.
That medical workers have been looking for answers for the disease that has ravaged four sub-counties for close to two years is also frightening. It is also strange that none of the modern and traditional medicines have worked and scientists who have taken blood and local soil samples have never given locals feedback.
At best, the government should have made this a matter of national concern because, as said by the affected, they cannot do farming or any other activity that can help them generate income because the disease almost cripples them. Some patients also report being stigmatised, discriminated against, and shunned by kinsmen and friends over their smelly wounds.
We applaud scientists from the Ministry of Health that visited Busiriba HealthCentre II at the weekend to evaluate the affected groups. However, according to the Kamwenge DHO, Dr William Mucunguzi, in 2015, a joint study by Ministry of Health and WHO indicated that the disease started in the district in 1980s. Since we know that the disease has been snowballing for close to four decades, we should have, or have had, contingency measures put in place since then.
For example, a nursing officer said if detected early, soaking and washing the feet with salty water could treat podoconiosis.
From the way of transmission, it means that wearing closed shoes may help shield one from the disease.
Why, then, doesn’t the government roll out a mass sensitization - just like for HIV, Covid-19, polio, etc - in the affected communities and those neighbouring it? We also think that it is highly prudent that government tests soils in other parts of the country, if the elements said to be in Kamwenge, are widespread and could cause the same danger.
Relatedly, it is plausible that Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja visited the affected at the weekend and gave them tokens. But that should not be the solution. The government should provide a special grant for such people because they havebeen disabled by a natural calamity that the Ministry should have avoided had more attention been paid over the years.
