Rusted taps cause lead poisoning which can result in epilepsy, Ms. Agnes Sam, Psychiatric Nursing Officer at the Kaneshie Polyclinic, has revealed. "When people fetch water from taps that are rusty, they end up consuming large volumes of lead which can result in epilepsy," she explained at a community durbar on mental illness in Accra. The durbar was held on the theme, "Creating awareness on mental illness and epilepsy for increased membership." Ms. Sam cleared the misconception that the disease was due to spiritual causes, leading to stigmatisation of victims, and said "epilepsy is a medical condition that can be managed when medical care is sought". She noted that many people had the misconception that people having seizures should not be touched, while others say if you touch them you would be infected. "That is not true; when someone is having a seizure, keep the person's head safe so that the person does not sustain any head injuries. Loosen the person up and lay the person prostrate until the seizure is over," she advised. Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, Juliana Azuma-Mensah, the research statistics, information Manager of the ministry, Efua Anyanful, stressed the need to intensify efforts aimed at creating awareness among the public about the disease, and to make mentally ill persons gain community acceptance and re-integration. She said as a demonstration of the government's commitment to addressing the problems facing mental health, the Mental Health Bill would soon be passed into law, and gave the assurance that the ministry would continue to passionately work to advance the cause of women and children, no matter what the person's health and social status was. Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterised by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Some of the causes of epilepsy are boils in the head, injuries sustained in the head and prolonged labour. Source: The Ghanaian Times