AKTH, Vanderbilt Varsity, BUK to Tackle Epilepsy, Sickle Cell Anemia 

Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano

 The Vanderbilt University, in collaboration with Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) and Bayero University Kano (BUK), has held an international workshop on “Optimising Child Neurology and Epilepsy in Northern Nigeria.”

 Speaking with journalists shortly after the workshop, a Professor of Medical Health at Bayero University Kano (BUK) and Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Professor Zubairu Ilyasu, said that the workshop would empower upcoming health workers at all levels of researches conducted on epilepsy and sickle cell anemia, especially in children in the north.

Ilyasu said:  “The main message I want to deliver here is that our people should seek help, whenever they have a child with epilepsy and sickle cell disease, they should not stay at home and believe that it is due to evil spirits.

“They should contact health workers starting from the nearest health facilities to them usually at the Primary Health Care level.

“If they cannot handle those issues at that level, they know what to do, they will refer them to the hospitals, both the general hospitals and the teaching hospitals.

“The purpose of this gathering is to share ongoing researches mostly conducted in institutions in Kano, Northern Nigeria and across Africa, particularly at Bayero University Kano, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna.”

Iliyasu further explained that the researches he conducted were related to sickle cell and epilepsy, which are two difficult diseases to handle because of the stigma they have.

The coordinator said that the findings of the research included the use of a new drug called urea in managing sickle cell and the possibility of training community health extension workers and other health cadres apart from doctors that would screen children with epilepsy and also it at their own levels.