The unexplained ailment has claimed more than 300 children and bedevilled over 3,000 others mostly in Omoro, Pader and Kitgum Districts. Currently, more than 175 children are receiving care for the nodding syndrome in Omoro, another 100 in Kitgum and more than 50 in Pader District. But the exact cause of the condition remains unknown.
Michael Odur, a resident of Labworomor village in Akwang, says that caring for the children affected by the nodding condition since the closure of the treatment centers has become an uphill task for him and the entire family due to resource constraints.
The patients from Kitgum District had been denied admission at the referral treatment unit on Monday due to space limitations. On Thursday, they travelled to Gulu from where the Ministry of Health had sent a bus to transport them to treatment facilities in Kampala.
Bishop Janani Loum, the regional in-charge of surveillance and case management at the facility explains that the shortage of essential medical supplies is a result of the surge in the number of patients and their contacts in the community.
The multi-million treatment Centre was built in 2012 by defunct Hope for Humans, a non-government organization which was then operating in parts of northern Uganda. However it was closed down in 2017 due to funding constraints.
