South Sudan, Hai Matara village, 2017. Margaret Festo, 45 years old, with her son Aleson, just a few months old, inside her home. Aleson has been diagnosed with Nodding disease. The disease causes a permanent physical and mental disability and it affects young from 5 to 15 years old. Symptoms are peculiar, as when a child is affected by it, both physical and mental growth stop permanently and mental retardation occurs. The name of the disease comes from one of the specific symptoms that come about which is an erratic nodding of the head. These movements generally occur when children are about to have a meal or sometimes when they feel cold and they last approximately 20 minutes.
