Zimbabweans urged to love people with epilepsy

Harare (New Ziana) –As the country joins the rest of the world in commemorating International Epilepsy Day, Zimbabweans have been urged to love people with the condition and stop subjecting them to stigma.

Advocacy Officer for the Epilepsy Support Foundation Zimbabwe, Taurai Kadzviti, said they were encouraging Zimbabweans to love people with epilepsy as the day fell on the week of Valentine.

International Epilepsy Day is celebrated each year on the second Monday of February as a way of raising awareness about the brain condition.

Across the world, people with epilepsy continue to be the targets of stigma, discrimination and human rights violations.

As a result, they frequently face barriers to education and employment and are effectively prevented from full participation in social and community life.

“Our theme for this year is -Love someone with Epilepsy, make Epilepsy a priority. So many times, we tend to forget that people with epilepsy need to be loved, need to be cared for and we are taking this opportunity that it goes hand in hand with the theme and with the festivity for Valentine hoping that people will appreciate,” said Kadzviti.

He urged the government to ensure epilepsy medication was available in both public and private health facilities as it was a key to the well-being of people with the condition.

“Many times, we see shortages of anti-epileptic medications. Just imagine having someone with high blood pressure going for days and months without medications, this is the same for people with epilepsy, they have seizures and some fall into the fire and have disabilities. This is what we ask the government to look into,” he said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Zimbabwe said there was need to deal with the stigma that people with epilepsy faced around the world.

“Stigma and discrimination against people with epilepsy are widespread and substantially impair quality of life, social wellbeing and health care seeking,” it said.

New Ziana