* It was important because people got to know about the condition—participant David Juma
* We engaged learners of some schools along the way and came face to face with people living with the condition
* We should help them learn what to do when they are under attack such as removing anything near that may hurt them
* And encouraging them to visit clinics for medication
By Ireen Kayira, MANA
National Epilepsy Association of Malawi, that raises awareness of the disease against its stigma, targeted to raise K5 million from the fundraising walk they organised last week from Blantyre to Lilongwe — dubbed ‘50 Million Steps’ of the 315km stretch from February 4-11.
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They managed to raise K525,000 and the association says it will be used to procure bicycles to be distributed across Malawi to one or two representatives in a community to use it to visit nearest clinic where they can receive medication and distribute them to others.
This was disclosed by the association’s Associate member, Moses Sakala who added that the walk was successful in raising awareness, saying people living with epilepsy are facing a lot of stigma in their communities they live which is an obstacle to their progress in life.
Thus they have dedicated the whole month of February to raise awareness on the condition and Sakala further said people view a person living with epilepsy as if they cannot perform economically or otherwise.
“The stigma and the discrimination that they face forces most of them to shun away from public participation and they don’t disclose to people about their condition,” Sakala said, adding that the awareness is trying to tell people that those with epilepsy condition are also like anyone else and in the process end the stigma.
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“When we talk about epilepsy in Malawi, we are looking at 40,000 people that have the condition -$ according to the study that was done in 2018 but the numbers might be bigger by now because people don’t come out in the open because of stigma.
“Apart from this challenge, some of them stay for four months without medication and some clinics do not receive adequate medication that would last people with epilepsy for a long time.”
He, therefore, emphasized that epilepsy should not be viewed as condition that doesn’t exist or that emanates from witchcraft but rather a medical condition anyone at any age can develop.
One of the participants of the 50 Million Steps initiative, David Juma said he decided to join the walk because he realised that it was a good cause, saying: “I have grown up seeing a lot of people living with epilepsy not realising their full potential due to stigmatisation and lack of information.
He said the awareness walk was important because people got to know about the condition, saying they engaged learners of some schools along the way and came face to face with people living with the condition.
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He added that they demonstrated that it is just like any other disease and it is not transmissible and not connected with witchcraft and thus encouraged people to embrace people living with this condition and help them lead a normal life.
“We should help them learn what to do when they are under attack such as removing anything near that may hurt them and encouraging them to visit clinics for medication,” said Juma, who is an ardent hiker of mountains and hills.
The 50 Million Steps was initiated by the International Bureau of Epilepsy and international league against epilepsy to remember the 50 million people that have epilepsy in the world.
