MSF Urges Urgent Action

The medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has called for urgent and coordinated action to improve the prevention, early detection and treatment of noma in Nigeria, warning that the neglected disease continues to claim the lives of thousands of vulnerable children despite being preventable and treatable. MSF made the call in a press statement made available to newsmen in Sokoto on Wednesday to mark efforts to raise awareness about the disease, noting that although the World Health Organisation recognised noma as a Neglected Tropical Disease in 2023, it remains largely absent from routine healthcare and child health programmes across Nigeria. According to the organisation, noma is a rapidly progressing, non-contagious disease that destroys facial tissues and bones, affecting mostly children under the age of seven living in extreme poverty, many of whom suffer from malnutrition, poor oral hygiene, inadequate immunisation and limited access to healthcare.