International Issues: Educational programs of the World Federation of Neurology

Abstract

During the past few years, several publications have documented the striking lack of neurologic health care givers in countries with limited resources.1–3 Neurologic care is particularly deficient in those developing countries where health problems are most severe. Even in those countries where a small number of neurologists practice, care is often fragmented and the neurologic community poorly organized. Educational programs for neurologic health care givers and neurologic patients are typically seriously deficient. The problem has been defined. The challenge is reasonably clear. A resolution is required. In North America and Western Europe, effective organizations exist that serve the organizational and educational needs of its neurologic community. However, no such meaningful process exists to provide these services for resource-deficient countries. During the past decade, the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) has attempted to fill this void. The WFN (www.wfneurology.org) was organized as a federation of national neurologic societies 50 years ago. Its secretariat is located in London, and it is registered as a Charity Corporation in the United Kingdom. Each country has one vote in its deliberations. A primary goal of the WFN is to assist low-resource countries in providing meaningful education for its neurologic health care providers and thus improve the neurologic health of its citizens. We hope that this brief review of the educational activities of the WFN will be informative for residents and fellows who are interested in working with and helping colleagues living in low resource environments. The WFN’s educational programs have been operating under several principles. 1. The successful education of neurologic health care providers, and their patients, is a major strategy in achieving improvement in health care in developing countries. 2. In order to strengthen the effectiveness of this educational process, each country should develop a cohesive neurologic society with specific individuals identified as leading that …