Life is often harsh for the children living in the south east slum of Phnom Penh, where approximately 210,000 Cambodians live. Growing up is made more difficult when a child living amongst the poorest of the poor suffers from epilepsy, a condition that people often don't understand.
In Cambodia, children with epilepsy are often hidden away by their own families, and getting the medicine needed to control the powerful seizures associated with epilepsy is not only expensive, it's hard to obtain at all. According to Peter Schopfer of Servants of Asia's Urban Poor, an international humanitarian organization, “More than once, children have had to go without medication for short periods of time because none was available anywhere in the country. There are also some questions as to the quality of the anticonvulsant medication manufactured in Asia.”
In 2008, Dr. Ron Lowe and his team from B.C., delivered antiepileptic medicine to Servants of Asia's Urban Poor and their local organization, TASK. The medicine played an integral role in changing the lives of these children.
The local and volunteer healthcare staff who work with TASK used Tegretol, generously donated by Canadian pharmaceutical company, Novartis, through Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC), for the ongoing treatment of children who suffer from epilepsy — like Visal.
Condition stabilized
Visal, a bright young boy was taken out of school and kept at home with his family due to his debilitating seizures. When he was nine he received free medical treatment and training to help him deal with the social stigma of his condition through TASK's “The Little Conquerors” program.
The treatment with Tegretol stabilized his condition and allowed him to go back to school. Visal now excels in his studies and hopes he can one day become an engineer.
Roughly 100 children are cared for by Servants of Asia's Urban Poor/TASK. “This is a worthy cause,” stated Dr. Lowe, who is committed to the organization. “A child with epilepsy can die from a seizure or not develop to his full potential.”
According to Peter Schopfer of Servants of Asia's Urban Poor, this donation helped children with epilepsy lead a happier and more normal life. “We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for the donation.”
Along with the donation of Tegretol to Cambodia, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada has donated a total of $6 million worth of medicines for HPIC's work in the developing world.
Silvie Letendre, Executive Director of Communications at Novartis Pharma- ceuticals Canada, says, “Working with HPIC to provide access to quality medicines for patients like Visal, allows us to live out our values of putting patients first and easing the suffering of people, regardless of what their circumstances are, or where they are in the world. We are so proud to have played an important role in Dr. Lowe's humanitarian mission to Cambodia, which impacted the lives of these children.”
