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Benin: Young faces eaten away by ignorance
In just four months the face of this child in northern Benin was eaten away by the disease known as Noma. And yet it could have easily been prevented.
Child with noma brought to the hospital at Tanguiéta 600km north of Cotonou. (Image: Godefroy Chabi/IRIN)
The disease is not communicable, experts say. The cause is simply poor nutrition and oral hygiene.
Noma starts in the mouth as a oral lesion that then becomes gangrenous, rapidly destroying soft and hard tissues of the mouth and face.
Over 100,000 children suffer from it each year, according to the Winds of Hope Foundation which provides support, most of them in Africa.
