The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically curtailed access to health services in Uganda. All ministry of health staff/ human resource personnel and health care workforce have their attention focused and diverted towards combating COVID-19. As a result, many people with chronic conditions like epilepsy who wholly rely on medication for their survival find themselves at pains on what to do and how to lead normal, dignified lives while also providing for their families. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to people with epilepsy being denied access to holistic care and services from health workers. Many of them report not being able to get regular and affordable medication, and fear going to hospitals that have been turned into COVID-19 treatment centres for fear of acquiring the deadly coronavirus. This has affected their adherence levels to treatment and as a result rendered most of them unable to function normally. This has further affected their dignity and ability to be able to contribute to their wellbeing due to the repeated seizures they experience.

For children with epilepsy, it has caused an inability to study and support their family in their day to day lives. This has caused people living with epilepsy discrimination, isolation, and additional stigma right from their family, villages and communities in which they live. Subsequently, predisposing them to a state of poor mental health, hopelessness and hunger due to inability to dig resultant from the repeated seizures. 

Due to the fact that women and girls with epilepsy are unable to provide for themselves their basic needs, they are further predisposed to sexual harassment, rape, and aggravated defilement because they cannot wholly protect themselves due to their vulnerability.

We have developed informative, educational and communicative materials about COVID-19 and have shared with our membership through text messages, radio sport messages and talk shows nationwide.

Additionally, with most government health facilities having been turned into COVID-19 response centers yet we want every person with epilepsy to access basic health care, particularly drugs, because their livelihoods depend solely on medication, we have partnered with 5 faith based health centres in West Nile region of Uganda and provided them with drugs and protective gear (face masks, hand sanitizers and gloves). This initiative has allowed a person with epilepsy to lead a seizure free life as we navigate this pandemic time in West Nile.

Much as government is providing food for Ugandans in the pandemic, this food has not reached every one. People are starving and yet a person with epilepsy survives on both drugs and food. To mitigate this, ESAU is supporting its members in West Nile and Jinja with basic cash support to buy domestic items that can make them survive this crisis. 

ESAU can do much more than this but we are limited by resources!

It’s therefore incumbent upon the government of Uganda to step up health care service delivery toward people with chronic conditions like epilepsy so they do not predispose them to getting corona and other life threatening conditions for they deserve better.

We further call upon any one out there to support the cause of Epilepsy Support Association Uganda and partner with us to reach out to the remaining regions of the country so that every person with epilepsy in Uganda can leave a seizure free life and contribute positively to the communities they live in during this pandemic times.

Published on 13 July 2020.