The power of photos in war on NTDs in Africa

In fading black and white, Ala Kheir beautifully layers compelling yet depressing shadow photos of people and places as he seeks to highlight a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Khartoum known as the Stabled Industrial Area.

It’s here where families that have fled unstable regions have made makeshift homes. Nearly two million Sudanese have been displaced by the civil war.

The city is rapidly expanding and poverty is clear in the periphery. People fleeing these war zones are finding refuge in unpleasant places.

Dump yards, industrial areas and other seemingly unforgiving areas now host huge populations. These spaces have slowly and somewhat become integrated into the city and are rife with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

Some of Kheir's images dubbed 'In their Place' explain the complexity of the city and the social economic issues that now shape Khartoum. Many are on the walls of the second oldest library in Kenya, the McMillan Memorial Library.

Kheir’s work is part of 38 pieces of photography from seven African countries put together in a series dubbed 'Reframing Neglect' to spotlight NTDs.

This is where the story of Eunice Atieno, 48, has been illustrated to inspire hope. When her right leg started swelling more than a decade ago, she moved from one hospital to another desperately seeking treatment. That mission failed. Since 2011, she has been living with Lymphatic filariasis (LF), commonly known as elephantiasis.

At some point, she says, doctors claimed the swelling of her legs was as a result of cancer. And like most cancer patients, she was put on treatment, exhausting her little earnings on chemotherapy sessions, but nothing happened.

It was until 2019 when Ms Atieno was correctly diagnosed with LF following a mass drug administration exercise that took place in her neighbourhood in Nairobi.

LF is a painful and profoundly disfiguring disease caused by infection with parasites classified as roundworms that are transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitos.

Photos of a smiling Atieno with a swollen leg joyfully playing with her grandchild, another as she undergoes a chemotherapy session at a hospital, and yet another where she sits alone on a bed all gloomy, cutting a dejected face, evoke mixed emotions.

“As you can see, she is a grandmother. She's coping well. People outside Africa just want to see poverty. We are happy and we are dealing with issues surrounding our communities well,” says Sarah Waiswa, a Kenyan-based Ugandan photographer. Her work is titled, 'Living with LF'. NTDs victims in Africa have had to deal with stigma from society.

River blindness

“The biggest issue about stigma is that you don’t want to talk about it, so that you don’t have to deal with it. I believe the more you talk about it, the more you are raising awareness. With Eunice in the story that I photographed, initially she would wear trousers, she didn’t want anybody to see the leg but overtime, she was courageous enough to be an advocate about it,” she offers.

Meseret Argaw is an Ethiopian photographer with three blurred photos of women going about their daily chores in a package titled, Neglect the Neglect.

“I have always been interested in issues related to women. I came across a documentary where a woman affected by trachoma (an eye disease) was mistreated by the husband because she wasn’t fulfilling her responsibilities. It really affected me, so I wanted to highlight such issues. Women are heavily impacted by NTDs in Africa,” she observes.

Another Ethiopian photographer, Aida Muluneh, presented Crimson Echo, a pictorial on NTDs. Mustapha Saeed, a Somali visual artist and photographer, presented the 'Water..Water...Life', on the emotional turmoil that intestinal worms bring to the body.

Through colourful ropes and garments, Mustafa attempts to convey the neglect and feelings of being a prisoner to a disease that can be easily treated.

Through portraits, Malian photographer John Kalapo captures the physical impact of NTDs, such as river blindness and elephantiasis in the Kita region through his art, titled The Neglected diseases in Mali.

Carol Karutu, Vice President of Programs at The End Fund, the organisation which commissioned the project, said Africa still has a long way to go in eradicating NTDs, hence the need to have different modes of advocacy.

“Africa bears the greatest burden of NTDs with over 70 per cent of cases coming from the continent. Our hope is that such an exhibition can spark critical conversations and inspire action,” says Ms Karutu.

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