Epilepsy awareness campaign to be held in Eldoret

Eldoret town is set to hold a roadshow to create awareness on epilepsy this Friday.

The annual “Angaza Kifafa” campaign is the brainchild of National Epilepsy Committee (NECC) and seeks to educate the public on the little-understood brain disorder.

This year’s edition has been sponsored by the Bank of Africa and will be flagged off by Uasin Gishu deputy governor Daniel Kiprotich Chemno.

During the partnership signing ceremony, Anis Kaddouri who is the acting Managing Director of Bank of Africa Kenya, decried the little attention given to the common condition.

“In Kenya it is estimated that 2 out of every 100 people are living with epilepsy. Yet, the focus has largely been on other disease like HIV and Cancer,” he said.

Epilepsy is a condition in which a person has repeated seizures or convulsions over time. Seizures are episodes of disturbed brain activity that cause changes in attention of behaviour.

The bank committed Sh2 million towards the NECC coordination committee to help educate the public and help demystify the disorder.

“We decided to support awareness creation due to the potential to reach a large number of Kenyans. To this end we allocated Sh2 million to NECC coordination committee to help in creating informed conversations about epilepsy through the most cost effective activities which will include roadshows and medical camps,” he said.

The condition is surrounded by a myriad of myths and misconceptions: from witchcraft, to sacred maladies, to family curses and many others. These often prevent people with epilepsy from seeking proper medical treatment or their families from assisting them for fear of stigma or being ostracized.

At the flag-off, the deputy governor will be joined by the NECC chairman, Prof P.G Kioy, Bank of Africa’s Product Development and Marketing Manager, Josephine Njuguna, and Eldoret County health officials.

Other road shows will follow in Machakos proceed to Nakuru before winding up in Nyeri later this year.