By Emmanuel Omona Pa Okech

The National Coordinator for the Nodding Disease Task Force Committee in Pader district, Doctor Bernard Opar has encouraged parents whose children are suffering from nodding syndrome to give them locally available foods.

Opar said that parents should give their children local foods such as millet, beans and green vegetable among others so that they may get a  balanced diet.

He said that the government may not be there to give them assistance every time adding that they should also support the government.The children have been receiving food support especially supplements from government.

The symptoms of nodding disease are very peculiar. When children are affected by it, their growth is stunted completely and permanently.

The growth of the brain is also stunted, leading to mental retardation of the affected individual.

The disease is named nodding syndrome due to the characteristic, pathological nodding seizure.

The seizure often begins when the children begin to eat, or sometimes when they feel cold.

These seizures are brief and halt after the children stop eating or when they feel warm again. These seizures can manifest themselves with a wide degree of severity.