Roger Miller, Samuel Eto’o, Bell join fight against killer Noma disease

LAGOS, Nigeria – African Football legends, Roger Miller, Joseph-Antoine Bell  with support from Samuel Eto’o have set up Noma Fund as part of effort to save children from Noma disease.

Noma disease kills over 140,000 children yearly , all from the poorest part of  Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. The disease develops in precarious sanitary conditions, where medical care, hygiene and good nutritional practices are lacking.  Noma is usually treated through antibiotic to prevent complications.

Noma disease, which kills 90% of its victims  manifests itself as a gangrene of the face, and progresses if it is not treated in time in a necrosis of all tissues. 

According to the NGO,  few survivors of Noma disease have psychological traces of the disease, they are “completely disfigured, these children are condemned to live in seclusion, hidden from the gaze. Also, even after surviving Noma, its victims suffer from very difficult social integration”, Noma Fund said. 

Noma Fund, is a non-profit assoaition founded in Paris by  great African footballers like, Roger Milla and Joseph-Antoine Bell, supported by Samuel Eto’o,  to fight Noma, a childhood disease of extreme poverty.

Speaking on the disease, Roger Milla, founder of Noma Fund, said “At a time when the well-being and health of our children are top priorities, how can a disease such as Noma subsist? It is, in my opinion, an unnamed injustice, which is high time to put an end to!”, he said. 

In his reaction,  Joseph-Antoine Bell, another iconic figure of Cameroonian football, and Dr Georges-Barthélémy Nko’Ayissi, a medical epidemiologist,  said he decided in 2019 to create Noma Fund, in order to eradicate Noma disease.

“Acting against Noma 2021-2030”

In order to eradicate Noma disease, Noma Fund has initiated a project “Acting against Noma 2021-2030”. This plan, which in its first phase provides for the implementation of actions in 10 target countries in Africa,  and it will be carried out in consultation with their local authorities. 

“Acting against Noma 2021-2030” provides in particular for the deployment of awareness and prevention actions and the construction of a regional reference hospital in Africa.

Joseph-Antoine Bell, co-founder of Noma Fund, explains the project: “This plan aims to enable populations at risk to better understand the disease, in order to better respond to it. Prevention campaigns include the provision of nutritional supplements, oral hygiene kits and antibiotic treatments. Simple but terribly effective tools against this disease that it is quite conceivable to see disappear within a few years!”

Samuel Eto’o said getting involved on behalf of the children of Noma seemed obvious to me! “Having grown up in Africa in precarious conditions, I myself could have been one of the victims of the disease. My commitment is on behalf of those who have not had the chance to escape it and to look forward to a better future!”

As part of the project “Acting against Noma 2021-2030”, Noma Fund has called on the leaders of the G20 and UN member states to inform them of the existence of the disease and to agree to include the fight against Noma on the agenda of the next G20 summit in Saudi Arabia.