It has been discovered that parasites and poor antenatal care are some of the main causes of epilepsy in Uganda.

The latest findings of a study on epilepsy in Africa titled, “Prevalence of active convulsive epilepsy in sub-Saharan Africa and associated risk factors: cross-sectional and case-control studies, were published on Friday in the Lancet Neurology Journal. The findings of the study was conducted by the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Ghana…

The study targeted over 1,711 people across Africa that had been diagnosed with active convulsive epilepsy. These 1,711 people along with 2,033, who did not have epilepsy, were given a questionnaire to complete concerning their life habits.

They had their blood samples taken to discover whether they had malaria, HIV and other parasitic diseases.

This study has been the first to reveal the extent of the neurological problem in Africa.

The study findings show that people with convulsive epilepsies are the most reliably detected and reported and there remains a substantial stigma attached to patients with epilepsy disease.

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