Keynotes & Addresses

"My name is Fidel Strub. I was born in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Around the age of three, I was infected by a little-known disease called Noma, which ignited a battle for survival that would span nearly two decades.

The pain began as a subtle pinch in the right cheek. My parents realised early on that something was not right as my health was declining rapidly. They brought me to doctors, but they didn’t know what it was or what to do. Noma was destroying my face at an alarming rate.

By sheer luck, a Swiss organisation had started a radio campaign asking to bring every child with a hole in the face to the north of the country, where one doctor, Dr. Zala, knew what to do. This led to my proper diagnosis and treatment, but Noma had already taken a devastating toll. It destroyed half of my lips, my nose, and my cheekbone. My right eye was lower than where it should be. My palate was gone, and with it, the muscles necessary for basic functions like chewing and speaking. My dignity was also taken away.

The damage to my face was so extensive that I was sent to Switzerland and adopted by Swiss doctors. My mother would say that I adopted her; she was always by my side and the only familiar face in a country where everything was new.

Over the next 15 years, I endured a total of 27 surgeries to reconstruct my face, six years of daily speech therapy, and psychological treatment. Every step took years. Just learning how to blow out a candle took me half a year. This was a very lonely and hard fight which tested my mental limits a few times. But I was, and still am, lucky that I had access to all this support.

After overcoming my mental battles, I decided to take action. We know how to prevent and treat Noma; we cannot wait to act. Experts estimate the disease affects 140,000 people every year, and up to 90% of them die in just a few weeks.

We share our survival stories to show how much Noma actually affected us and why we cannot accept that it still exists. All of this could have been avoided if there was awareness.

We want to ensure people at risk and their communities are educated about Noma, and people affected by it are treated on time. Furthermore, we want to give survivors the chance to reclaim their lives and dreams. We want to make it possible for them to pursue an education or start their own business. We want them to be empowered, as we have been, so they can make a fruitful contribution to society as they deserve.

We believe our stories, filled with pain but also with resilience and hope, can serve as catalysts for change, inspiring a movement that vows to protect future generations from the cruelty of Noma and all Neglected Tropical Diseases."