BURKINA FASO - Ali, aged 13

Ali is 13 and suffers from lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis). The pain and fever prevent him from working on the land with his family. As the fifth of twelve children, Ali often works in the family’s field which is about 12 kilometres or so from where he lives. He takes his bicycle, but this triggers terrible pains in his lower limbs : “It’s as if my legs are burning up”. Regular attacks keep him in bed with swollen feet and a high fever, and when this happens he can’t help his parents look after the crops. Through ignorance, as they are unable to understand the cause of his pain, they think he is pretending. So, as well as the physical pain, Ali also suffers from being thought lazy. Now that his illness has been diagnosed, Ali keeps to the treatment and strict rules of hygiene that help control the attacks. His life has really changed !

Elephantiasis, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, is highly disabling and incurable. It can cause gross enlargement (hypertrophy) of the arms and legs. The disease affects 120 million people in the world, almost a third of whom are severely disabled.