UN Research Team of the Global Health Institute of Barcelona (ISGlobal), center imported by the «La Caixa» Foundation, has Documented for the first time the presence of Noma’s cooling in Mozambique. He Study, published in BMJ Global Health, It shows that this devastor cooling, preventable and treatable, continues to affect community in extreme poverty, going unnoticed for health systems. The work concludes that the situation is not exclusive to Mozambique: where there is poverty, there is a noma.
He NomaAlso known as Cancrum OrisIt is an infectious that destroys the one that destroys the tissues of the ara quickly and can be deadly in a matter of weeks if it is not. Mainly affects boys and girls living in conditions of Extreme PovertyUnder malnutrition conditions, with poor oral hygiene and after infections such as measles or malaria. Although Can be prevented and treatment Contibiotics and nutritional support in their first of the first, if the Mortality rate reaches 90%. Those who survive drag for life Physical, functional and social secules That generate a strong stigma.
Internal 2023WHO officially recognized Noma as a Tropical cooling unattendedA key step to boost global research and action. Sin embargo, it is still an invisible cooling in many countries.
First evidence in Mozambique
The Isglobal team, in collaboration with the Oral Health Program of the Province of Zambezia, in Mozambique, and the University of Navarra, has contributed the First empirical evidence that the Noma exists in this African countryAlthough until now it had not been documented in scientific literature.
For five weeks of field work in the ZAMBEZIA PROVINCEThe team put into practice a Active case search strategy inspired by the smallpox eradication campaign: Muntares posters with images of the national sequelae to health professionals and groups of people in markets and health centers to ask if he knew someone who had suffered cooling. 21 survivors are identifiedSome with secules dating from the seventies. In addition, during this short period, two acute cases fuelon Attended at the reference hospital.
A starting of the cases detected, the team could calculate an approximate incidence rate of 13.7 cases per 100,000 children of new years. This figure is similar to the estimates of others of incidence in Ethiopia and Nigeria. However, reference surgeons attend only a few acute cases a year, since less than two out of ten children with Noma arrives at a hospital with specialists. This meaning that for each case served is much more that remain invisible. If you also take into account that sin treatment is around 90%, The calculation research team that in the province of Zambezia produces at least 200 cases per year In children again. In other words: official figures represent only the tip of the iceberg.
A cooling that reflects reasons
The name is not contagious, but its appearance is istimato linked to Social determinants of health: Poverty, malnutrition, lack of vaccines, recurring infections and limited access to quality medical services. The testimonies collected in Mozambique also show that many communities interpret the disease as witchcraft or punishment, which stigmatizes patients and can delay the search for medical care.
«That there are no records do not mean that there is no cooling, but I do not put efforts to identify it,» he explains Marta RibesIslobal researcher and first author of the study. «Our work shows that, as in Mozambique, Noma probaborantse is present in many other places where poverty exposes children to risk to put itand not to receive diagnosis or subsequent treatment, which implies that their cases denote a document. In addition, this study is worth a simple and low -cost form to detect cases in these places, which allows the first evidence to demand public health policies to combat the disease. ”
Beyond Mozambique
Although this study focuses on a specific country, its concluding extra -pollible son: Where there is poverty, there is Noma. The lack of diagnosis and information reflects the abandonment of vulnerable, invisible community even in global health statistics.
“This study shows that with simple tools they can be detected invisible to health systems. But, above all, it reminds us that Noma is an extreme expression of inequality: Preventable cooling that only persists because it affects the poorest among the poor ”, he says Carlos ChaccourCo -author and researcher of Isglobal at the time of the study, which is real at the International Development Center of the University of Navarra.
The authors underline the Need to aumar awareness among health professionals, develop national surveillance plans and guarantee resources for early detention and treatment. Contibiotics Nutritional support on time, the Noma is preventable and curable.
Reference
Ribes M, Atumane A, Padama F, et al. Wherever there is poverty: active and liabilities finding to address Noma’s negligence in Mozambique. BMJ GLOB HEALTH. 2025; 0: E020859. DOI: 10.1136/BMJGH-2025-020859
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