More than one million Kenyans are suffering from epilepsy, the chairman of the National Epilepsy Coordination Committee (NECC) Prof Paul Kioi has said.
Kioi indicated that, the condition which is the most common neurological disorder in Kenya has affected more than 75 per cent of Kenyans below the age of 20.
“The brain disorder is largely misunderstood and patients are stigmatised. It is wrong for people to believe that epilepsy can be passed through saliva, breathing or perspiration,” Kioi said.
He was speaking in Nakuru on Friday during the flagging off of an Epilepsy Awareness Campaign at Nakuru County Headquarters.
Kioi said that the government will train more health workers on epilepsy related issues to help improve epilepsy treatment and management in public health facilities and also increase medical interventions in the 47 counties.
He indicated that last year alone, NECC trained 140 health practitioners from Kisumu, Mombasa and Nairobi.
“This resulted in a great positive impact in treatment and management of epilepsy in public health centres. The government has embarked on training more from other areas in the country,” he said.
Nakuru County Officer in-charge of Health Dr Mungai Kabii urged parents with children suffering from epilepsy in the county to present them in health centres for early treatment.
Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder in Kenya and fourth in the world. Kioi said an estimated 65 million people world-wide suffer from epilepsy with 80 per cent of them coming from developing countries. He adding that epilepsy is treatable and that it is not witchcraft as many are people believe.