‘Her legs became like an elephant’s’

• How Elephantiasis ruined three generations of a family

When Asiru Bukola was a young girl, she dreamt of becoming a nurse and her rich businesswoman mother was willing to see this come through. But Asiru caught a troubling disease that would ruin both mother and child and severely affect a third generation of the family.

When Asiru Bukola (not real name) was 15, she loved swimming in a body of water close to her home in Ibadan.

Until one day, she experienced a strange itching sensation on her leg. She didn’t know this at the time but it was the start of something that would change her life.

“All those we used to swim with, none of them had any issue like this,” she said. “There was a belief then that I was charmed because my mother used to be a wealthy businesswoman. Others ascribed it to my stubbornness when I was a young girl.”

Eventually, her leg started to bloat and she started growing sores and experiencing pains.

“My mother used to take me to the hospital for treatment but there was no remedy as the leg continued to swell. When she exhausted her finances, we decided to resort to alternative treatment,” she said.

Even though she started school early, she had to drop out due to difficulties with her health. She was diagnosed with elephantiasis.

Her big businesswoman mother, who sold fabrics in a popular Ibadan market exhausted all her finances in seeking a cure for her daughter. She had spent all her money in vain before her death.

Now at 45, Asiru has lived with her condition for 30 years. Her second leg caught on with the disease when she became an adult.

The ailment has denied her a whole lot of opportunities in life. In the ruins of her dream are the remains of her desire to be a nurse. It has also affected the lives of her children, whose education she could not push to the zenith.

After her mother died, Asiru took up a business to make ends meet but that too suffered from her health.

“I was selling provisions but everything also went down because of my ill health. I used to have a shop at Mokola Market. As at that time, I wore long dresses to cover up and people hardly know I was battling with an ailment but as my health kept deteriorating and the money for treatment became a challenge, the business also packed up.

“The condition was so bad that the legs were swollen and dripping. I used to tie them with a bandage and removing the bandage was  another difficult process for me because it came with pain. I was also going out to beg for money to sustain myself but of recent, it has become so difficult to go out due to the pain,” she said.

Despite her illness, her beauty still radiates and she was married twice.

“I had five children for two men but only two of the children are alive, a girl and a boy. The girl is staying with relatives while the boy is hustling on his own as a commercial motorcyclist,” she said.

What she is suffering from is Lymphoria Filariasis (LF) popularly known as Elephantiasis.

It is one of the 12 Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) that Nigeria still struggles to eradicate. In all, there are 26 NTDs across the globe.

It is a tropical parasitic disease in which the limbs or other parts of the body becomes grossly enlarged due to obstruction of the lymphatic vessels, typically caused by the nematode parasite which causes filariasis.

It is also referred to as the diseases of the poor because the disease conditions were closely associated with poverty, poor sanitation, lack of safe water resources, substandard housing conditions and a deficient health care system

Experts said NTDs are found in several countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and they are especially common in tropical areas, where people do not have access to clean water or safe ways to dispose of human waste.

Asiru said she had been to the University College Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Ibadan to seek help. Once she was told that the only solution was for the legs to be amputated. She objected to this. How could she face life without her legs?

Now she relies on pain relievers and herbal treatments to help her sleep through the excruciating pain she suffers.

Her children have had to pay for her condition. Her son, 29 now, who she hoped would be a medical doctor, had to drop out of secondary school to learn a trade. Now he is a commercial motorcyclist. Her daughter just completed primary school at the age of 14.

“My aunt and other relations have been supportive,” she said. “They have been helping me in one way or the other, I cannot lie. The children in our neighbourhood have been helpful. They don’t run away from me, they run errands whenever I need them.”

Sometimes she gets frustrated and had thought of ending it all. But she hopes she will be fine one day.

She is not the only one suffering this ailment. About 122 million Nigerians are at risk of one or more of the Neglected Tropical Diseases, according to the National Coordinator, NTD Elimination Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Chukwuma Anyaike.

He said this at a media dialogue on NTDs organized by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in conjunction with the Child Rights Bureau of the Ministry of Information.

NTDs, he said, have been aiding and promoting poverty spread in Nigeria and adequate attention has not been given to NTDs because they are not the diseases of the bourgeoisie.

“Nigeria contributes 40% to the global burden of NTDs and these diseases render those affected unproductive, their dependants suffer and poverty gains more ground,” he said.

He said the government at all levels ought to pay more attention to NTDs and increase the budget for it to save lives, banish poverty and improve the economy. He also urged the media to raise awareness of the diseases.

An expert in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene who works with UNICEF, Mr Bioye Ogunjobi said adherence to proper hygiene, including the use of toilets, regular hand washing and a clean environment could assist in eliminating NTDs.

He said UNICEF is giving support to eliminate NTDs in Nigeria because it affects children and women.

Some of the NTDs are; LF, Onchocerciasis (River Blindness), Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted Helminthiasis, Trachoma, Snakebite Envenoming, Rabies, Buruli Ulcer, Leprosy, Yaws, Leishmaniasis, Human African Trypanosomiasis, HAT, and Guinea-worm Disease.

Mr Bioye also said Nigeria’s 774 local government areas are endemic when it comes to NTDs and 583 LGAs are affected by LF, 481 are affected by Onchocerciasis, 429 by Soil Transmission Helminthiasis and 582 by Schistosomiasis, adding that some LGAs are affected by two or more NTDs.

Mr Bioye explained that if the issues revolving around WASH was addressed using the promotion of safe behavioural changes and WASH facilities are provided for the poor and other communities endemic to the diseases, NTDs will be a thing of the past in the next five years.

He also said adherence to proper hygiene and safe sanitation could assist in eliminating NTDs and bringing a large number of people out of poverty, mostly in rural communities.

“Because these diseases do not allow people to be productive, there’s a need for the government to do something about it. There is a need for public awareness on NTDs that will enlighten people about the diseases and how people can be affected by it,” he said.

Too little, too late for Asiru. However, she is still hoping for a miracle even if only to give her children a chance in life.