Healthcare gaps leave 70 of epilepsy patients neglected

The Kenya Association for Welfare of People with Epilepsy has begun the initiative for promoting the diagnosis of the disease in villages.[File,Courtesy

Patients with epilepsy in Homa Bay County are expected to get a sigh of relief after an organisation started a project that targets their medication.

The Kenya Association for Welfare of People with Epilepsy (KAWE) has begun the initiative for promoting the diagnosis of the disease in villages.

Through a partnership with DEVLINK and Homa Bay County Government, FAWE undertakes the project by empowering community health volunteers (CHVs) and health workers who operate in dispensaries and health centres.

The empowerment is done by training the CHVs and health workers employed in the primary health facilities.

In the training, the health service providers are taught how to identify and diagnose patients with epilepsy.

Upon identification or diagnosis, the patients are referred to health facilities for medication.

The programme started in Mbita sub-county before being rolled out in the remaining sub-counties in Homa Bay.

KAWE Chief Clinician Bryan Tabani said they started the programme after realising that 70 per cent of epilepsy patients were neglected.

Instead, they are left to stay at home as the disease bites them.

“We saw it as important to bridge the gap that hinders medication of  epilepsy patients,” Tabani said.

He said training primary healthcare workers was important because they are the first people who handle patients before they are referred to higher-tiered health facilities.

“For example, CHVs are the first-line doctors in the community. If they have misguided information, the whole community will get the right information about epilepsy,” he added.

The county department of health’s Casper Ndole said many epilepsy patients are suffering at home because of myths and misconceptions.

He said the training will help in providing the right information to epilepsy patients.

“There are people who believe that  epilepsy is caused by witchcraft; hence, they don’t seek medication. This training is going to address the gaps because it also encompasses mobilisation, too,” Ndole said.

He said epilepsy should be perceived as a disease that is manageable. DEVLINK’s Joel Omer said the programme will help in debunking myths surrounding epilepsy.

Omer said there were some people who believed that epilepsy results from a curse.

“In the local community, we have come across people who believe that epilepsy is a curse or results from a bad omen. These myths have stigmatised many patients, but we are debunking them in this programme,” Omer said.