Kilak South legislator Hon. Gilbert Olanya has tasked the government of Uganda to take kind interest in the neglected and forgotten people living with Nodding Syndrome or else he will ferry them to the State House.
He added if the government fails to take responsibility, he will then ferry the victims to Parliament or State House since family members can't manage the situation.
He made the statement when he visited families living with Nodding Syndrome in Angagura Sub County Pader District.
Hon Gilbert Olanya while meeting parents of nodding syndrome affected children, gave the government 14 days to explain the cause of the Nodding Syndrome in the Acholi Sub Region.
"We feel it is quite baseless for these children to continue living and bothering the family here in Pader, Kitgum, Omoro and within Acholi sub-regions. You will be pleading to the government to take all these children to Mulago hospital or to Mbarara University of science and technology." Mr Olanya said.
Hon Gilbert Olanya insisted on knowing the root cause of the Nodding Syndrome in the Acholi sub-region after the government failed to come up with clear findings about the root cause.
"We are interested in knowing the root cause of Nodding Syndrome. Up to now the government has never come up clearly to tell us exactly what is causing nodding syndrome. Most of these children that are mostly affected and those who have died are children raging between the age of 22 and 26. What is it exactly that happened in the Acholi sub-region that only the specified ground of children are affected." He added.
Nodding syndrome, according to the World Health Organization, is a neurological condition with unknown cause or origin. It was first documented in Tanzania in the 1960s, then later in the Republic of South Sudan in the 1990s and in northern Uganda in 2007.
WHO says nodding syndrome typically affects children between the ages of 5 and 15 years old, causing progressive cognitive dysfunction, neurological deterioration, stunted growth and a characteristic nodding of the head.
Despite numerous and extensive investigations in all three countries, very little is known about the cause of the disease.
