Purple Day creates awareness about epilepsy

THE University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), yesterday, encouraged students to “rock those purple outfits,” in support of Purple Day or World Epilepsy Day which raises awareness about epilepsy  every year on 26 March.

UKZN took to Facebook to encourage students to wear purple.

“On this day, people across the globe come together to raise awareness of the condition and make a difference to the lives of people affected by epilepsy. So rock those purple outfits tomorrow as we celebrate World Epilepsy Day, aka, Purple Day,” read the post.

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“I wanted people around the world to come together and teach others about epilepsy.” These are the words of Cassidy Megan, who founded Purple Day, an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide.

According to the Purple Day website, 50 million people across the globe have epilepsy and in 50 per cent of the cases the cause is unknown.

The Epilepsy South Africa Website states that epilepsy affects 1 in 100 people in South Africa.

“Since 2004 Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDE) has increased by more than 100 per cent in South Africa. The overall risk of a child having unprovoked seizures is between one and two per cent of the general population. However, this increases to approximately six per cent if a parent has epilepsy. 75 per cent of people with epilepsy will experience their first seizure before the age of 20. Up to 80 per cent of people with epilepsy will be able to control their seizures with medication. One in 20 people will have a seizure at some time in their lives,” reads the site.

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Epilepsy is most commonly identified by unprovoked seizures. For more information contact Epilespy SA 0860 EPILEPSY (0860 374 537) or email: info@epilepsy.org.za.

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