REPORT OF THE PURPLE DAY ORGANISED BY THE ASLEK IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE STIGMA OF EPILEPSY

The association against the stigmatisation of epilepsy in the Democratic Republic of Congo organised on the occasion of the Purple day, an awareness campaign to fight against the stigmatisation of epilepsy on all its forms, which constitutes our battlefield.

ON TODAY'S AGENDA

1. Epilepsy Recall with an Emphasis on the Different Causes of Epilepsy and Urgent Action During Seizures Before Bringing the Patient to Hospital

2. Have the message conveyed to the parents of the students

3. Interview meeting with teachers

4. To request the introduction of a chapter on epilepsy in the national education program in all classes

5. Conclusion

“Once upon a time in Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one girl with 8 years-old had lost her life, not for the epilepsy crisis but for the drowning. Because the poor girl who came from school with her friends on the way, she saw herself having a tonic clonic crisis and losing her life by drowning, because the latter, was abandoned by her friends, saying falsely that If you touch a person suffering from epilepsy during his seizure, you can easily become contaminated by the gases that will be emitted during sphincter relaxation”

This pitiful story was explained to students and during our exchange the students understood that epilepsy is not contagious. We recommended that students convey the message to parents as much as possible because we have not been able to reach all parents specifically. We used students as the bridge of the message.

The exchange with them was rich in color and enriching, all around there was talk of setting up a program, which can help teach about epilepsy as it is the case with HIV and other pathologies. The suggestions that have been made will be successful because they have promised to send the message to the right people (inspection of primary and secondary education)

Creating avenues to help build a neurological treatment centre

Also during this interview, it was question of how to solicit funding in the end to build a specialised centre for the treatment of neurological diseases (epilepsy ...) and we are reserved to answer this question of great importance. Because according to them sensitising is a good thing but it will be necessary to arrive at the end while integrating the aspect taken care of overall. And we understand that this aspect is of great importance but we have no funding to try to advance the management of this pathology.

After presentation there followed sessions question answer. For the public question: In a room with 96 students in grades 3 and 6, all these students know that epilepsy is a contagious, demonic disease caused by wizards. And can only be treated by traditional practices.

And for the students of Secondary 4 and 5 meeting in a room, out of 63 students only 3 are those who know that the disease is not contagious and after verification, these students had to read our newspaper published on the newspaper Ameej in 2017 under the supervision of Prof Najib.

A large population is of the opinion that epilepsy is a contagious disease. This encourages us to shout loudly to all those who have the love and passion to support people suffering from epilepsy to lend us a strong hand in order to educate this population on the pathology and if possible think about the appropriate medical construction for their care.

Study data and summary

CONCLUSION: The association fighting against the stigmatisation of epilepsy based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, seized the purple day, a brilliant idea initiated by its founder Cassidy Megan and encouraged by the treasurer of the International Office of Epilepsy and President of Africa Epilepsy Forum Dr. Anthony Zimba and the Vice President of the African Epilepsy League Mr Jacob Mugumbate, to raise awareness about the stigmatisation of epilepsy and the social, moral and other discrimination's that afflict people suffering from epilepsy in the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular and in the world in general.

SUGGESTION: We note that the anti-stigmatisation association for epilepsy is a movement that brings together young physicians with the concerns and passion to help patients with epilepsy to help the general population to have perfect knowledge. and specifies on epilepsy.

We take this opportunity to send a shout of alarm to the international community and people of good will to help us in our struggle.

Several ideas are in place but we do not have the financial means to make the project a reality. Much remains to be done, the population not yet informed about epilepsy represents an estimate of 91% and our goal is to reach all sections of the Congolese, African and World population.

During our awareness campaign, we discovered 7 children with epilepsy but who are not on treatment and these children were recommended for appropriate examinations such as electroencephalogram and brain scan that we unfortunately do not have.

THANKS We thank the authorities of the different schools who received us without any preconditions during this campaign finally to discuss the stigmatization of epilepsy.

Study performed and written by Dr. Prince Kazadi: CEO & Founder for ASLEK

Contacts : Email : princekazadi56@gmail.com Tel : +243972253161 Democratic Republic of Congo in AFRICA