00:01Painful and unrelenting. Cases of Noma, a disease that disfigures children and sometimes kills them, are rapidly rising in Nigeria.
00:10It begins with gum inflammation in malnourished children and quickly spreads to destroy soft tissues and bones.
00:18Noma disease affects children, mainly between the ages of 2 to 7, with some risk factors. It does not just
00:32affect children like that, except for the children that have some of these risk factors together, or a few of
00:39them, which can lead to this disease.
00:46It's a progressive gangrenous disease that eats up the tissue, both the soft and the hard tissues of the mouth,
00:54within the short period of time.
00:57At this medical camp in Sokotov State, Doctors Without Borders is carrying out surgeries free of charge. The disease mostly
01:05affects 2 to 6-year-old children.
01:08We do not know the exact cost of what cost is Noma, because in all of this, when you're talking
01:14about poverty, there are still some people that don't develop Noma in all of these settings.
01:20So we're still trying to understand the exact costs of Noma, what makes it that one particular region doesn't develop
01:30Noma and one develops.
01:32But we know that there are many factors that can contribute to the development of Noma.
01:38Early stage treatment includes antibiotics and improved nutrition. But once the disease worsens, surgery is required.
01:48This disease particularly destroys the face, the oral structures. So not only the appearance, which gives stigma to this type
01:56of disease, but also functionally.
01:59These patients, some of them are not able to completely open their mouth, breathe well, and they have reinfection.
02:04So it brings all social isolation. So by the time you are able to do surgeries for this patient and
02:13achieve good results, it's like giving another human being hope.
02:19Noma is classified by the WHO as a neglected tropical disease, meaning it receives little or no global attention and
02:27funding.
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