There is need to create more awareness about epilepsy

A patient undergoing an Epilepsy ECG test. [File, Standard]

This year's theme for International Epilepsy Day is 'Milestones on my epilepsy journey'. The theme hopes to accentuate how patients with epilepsy have been able to overcome challenges that come with the disease and encourage people to talk about their success journey.

For long, epilepsy has been associated with witchcraft. Some tribes believe that an epileptic person is demon-possessed or has offended their ancestors. They therefore perform rituals to appease the ancestors and 'cleanse' the person. When I was in primary school, a girl who had epilepsy would fall, foam at the mouth and have violent fits. Students would run away and observe her from a distance in fear. Teachers would not really help as they believed she was faking it by using powder to make her foam at the mouth so as not to attend classes. Absurd, right?