It’s not a disease that many are familiar with, but with World Oral Health Day, which fell on March 20, just past us, it is perhaps time to find out just what noma, a neglected tropical disease, is. What is Noma? Noma is a severe, gangrenous disease of the mouth. According to the World Health Organization, which classified it as a neglected tropical disease in December 2023, noma mostly affects children aged 2–6 years suffering from malnutrition, affected by infectious diseases, living in extreme poverty with poor oral health or with weakened immune systems.
Noma is a rapidly-progressing condition, and can also occur among immunocompromised adults due to HIV, leukaemia and other diseases. Africa is the most affected continent (primarily sub-Saharan Africa), though cases have been reported from Asia and elsewhere as well. The history of Noma Noma is reportedly derived from the Latin word ‘nomē’, meaning ‘feed, devour or spread of’.
According to a 2017 paper, ‘Noma: Overview of a Neglected Disease and Human Rights Violation’ in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene , Noma has been an old companion of humankind. “Described by classical and medieval authors, the disease was common in Europe and the United States for centuries. In 1649, noma was included in the first book about neglected diseases, Observationes Medicae de Affectibus Omissis , by Arnoldus Bootius.
By the end of the 19th century, noma gradually disappeared from European and U.S. h.