Noma: A Neglected Area for Research

Abstract

Noma, a debilitating and destructive orofacial gangrene, remains endemic in the poor countries of sub-Saharan Africa and other noma hotbeds across the globe, mainly in countries characterized as underdeveloped economies with significant impoverished populations. Noma mostly affects children and infants. This is in spite of the universally held notion that noma is a preventable disease. Indeed, the current noma status quo has been cast as a human rights shortfall, since this devasting disease overwhelmingly affects children from poor countries. At the recently held Noma Research Day, a renewed call for the World Health Organization (WHO) to recognize and include noma as one of the neglected tropical diseases was accompanied by a recognition that research into all aspects of noma has waned or remained completely lacking—particularly that which addresses the basic science questions of the etiology, pathophysiology/pathobiology, and underlying mechanisms of the disease. Yet, a lack of incremental knowledge on the various aspects of noma continues to hamper our composite understanding of its biology. Without a fundamental understanding of the biology of noma, current preventive measures and treatment modalities will continue to fall short of the goals of prevention and eradication. This opinion piece draws renewed attention to the urgency of listing noma as a neglected tropical disease by the WHO. It also calls for major international research funding agencies, including the WHO and the National Institutes of Health, to renew their resolve to robustly fund structured, collaborative, and coordinated proposals that address questions on the epidemiology, etiology, pathophysiology/pathobiology, and molecular mechanisms of the disease. This is with a view to achieving more effective public health approaches toward prevention and to designing potential therapeutic regimens for early lesions. These steps are key to the ultimate eradication of noma.