adminDudzai Matewu Herald Reporter
People living with epilepsy continue to face stigma and discrimination despite campaigns being undertaken to demystify the condition. Epi-Action youth campaigner Mr Tineyi Mavhunga told The Herald that people with the condition often faced social isolation among other ills.
“Most people with epilepsy are unemployed, unmarried and some do not even go to school because people discourage them”, he said.
“It is alarming that most people living with epilepsy continue to be ridiculed and discriminated against.
“We want the community to understand that kind of disability and help those people to do something in their lives.”
Epi-Action groups people with epilepsy who are campaigning to change public attitudes towards those living with the condition.
Epilepsy refers to a diverse set of chronic neurological disorders, usually characterised by seizures.
Experts say it is generally caused by an excessive disorderly discharge in the cortical nerve cells of the brain and can range from clinically undetectable signs to life-threatening convulsions .
Epilepsy manifests itself in different forms, including forgetfulness, abnormal nose bleeding, prolonged menstruation, some forms of meningitis and brain cancer.
According to research by the Epilepsy Support Foundation, 500 000 people in Zimbabwe suffer from epilepsy.
The foundation estimates that 86 percent of people with epilepsy are not receiving treatment when 80 percent of cases can be medically controlled.
Worldwide, around 50 million people have epilepsy, a condition that is incurable but can be controlled with drugs and other treatments.
More than 80 percent of epilepsy cases are in developing countries.
Online Reporter