Moon Madness

Norwegian-born Dr. Louise Aall of Tsawwassen, B.C., studied medicine in Germany, France and Switzerland before working solo as an itinerant bush doctor in rural Tanganyika (now Tanzania). There she pioneered the treatment of epilepsy, establishing in 1959 her own remote clinic — which still exists today. She became the first Western physician to treat a variant of epilepsy that is now recognized by the WHO as “Nodding Syndrome.” The following year, Dr. Aall was asked by the Red Cross to fly to the Belgian Congo to manage a 300-bed hospital. Protected by UN soldiers, she served as the hospital’s lone bedside physician during civil war atrocities. Soon after, at the behest of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer, she worked with him at his renowned clinic in Gabon. She then married and immigrated to Canada and gained accreditation as a psychiatrist at McGill, then as an anthropologist at the University of B.C. Since that time, she has returned to her Tanzanian clinic many times, continuing to provide innovative treatment and rehabilitation for epilepsy, benefitting thousands of Africans afflicted with “moon madness.”