Living in isolated and extremely poor places, noma patients are difficult to find. For some of them, reaching a clinic or hospital is almost impossible because they are usually located hundreds of kilometres away. Even people who can access treatment sometimes don’t have the money to pay for medical care in their local clinics.

Noma is an infectious but non-contagious bacterial disease that starts as an inflammation of the gums, similar to a small month ulcer. The infection destroys the bone and tissue very quickly – over a matter of days – affecting the jaw, lips, cheeks, nose or eyes, depending on where the infection starts. Noma mostly affects children under five-years-old who are living in poverty.

90% of the people affected by noma die in the first two weeks if they don’t receive treatment in time. That’s why early detection and awareness raising campaigns are so important for a disease that affects 140,000 children every year (WHO source).

Noma survivors have to live with severe facial disfigurements that make it hard to eat, speak, see or breathe. On top of that, they must deal with the social stigma caused by the horrific damage done to their face. People who survive noma have only one choice if they want a better life: they must undergo extensive reconstructive surgery.

Noma is preventable and treatable, if detected and managed early during the first weeks of the disease. Through basic oral hygiene, antibiotics and wound dressing a patient can fully recover from noma within a few weeks. For more information visit noma.msf.org.