Noma: "The Face of Poverty"

Noma (derived from the Greek "nomein" meaning "to devour") is a devastating gangrenous disease which attacks children, quickly destroying their mouth, nose, and face, and which can prove fatal after just a few weeks. Without prompt treatment, mortality rates from this disease are as high as 70-90%. I won't post pictures.  If you are curious and have a strong stomach, search "noma disease" in google images.

Why am I talking about Noma disease?  It's a long story that starts about a week ago in Cinzana.  Kyle and I were packing our things to go back to Segou when Adama, Kyle's host father, shows up with a young couple and their newborn baby.  The baby has a cleft palate and the couple wants to know what we can do to help them.  Not wanting to give them false hope, we say we'll look into it when we return to Segou. Later that day, while leafing through an old Rolling Stone magazine, an ad serendipitously catches my eye:

Smile Train is an organization that provides free cleft surgery for children in developing countries.  I shot them an email.  Their quick reply brought news that not only do they work in Mali, but there was a team of Canadian doctors coming to Bamako the first 2 weeks of February to perform free surgeries!  Within a few days we were on a bus to Bamako with mother and child, headed for the hospital.  

The baby, less than 1 month old, was severely malnourished and underweight (only 3 lbs!).  The doctors told us they couldn't operate on the cleft until the child was in better health.  They arranged for them to stay at the hospital, free of charge, while the baby was given a strict regiment of proper nutrition.  

In the meantime, we had been contacted by another family from a neighboring village that had heard about the project.  They had a daughter in need of cleft surgery, and they met us at the hospital in Bamako.  Upon examination, the doctors informed us that the girl's condition was not actually a cleft palate, but rather an infection called "Noma."  Half of her mouth and her entire cheek had been destroyed by the disease.  Due to the severity of her condition, she was transfered to a special clinic outside Bamako designed specifically for Noma patients.  There she will receive free treatment for the infection and eventually free surgery to reconstruct her face.

In the developed world, children who acquire an infection of this sort are simply treated with penicillin and cured.  The disease has been virtually eradicated in America.  In countries like Mali, the same infection, when combined with malnutrition and poor oral hygiene, often causes death.

The moral(s) of this story: 1. Don't take your health (or your healthcare system) for granted.  2. There are groups out there doing amazing work.  I don't often make plugs like this, but if you're looking for a good place to make a donation, I recommend Smile Train, a light at the end of the tunnel.