Global Perspectives

Editorial - Harry Meinardi

• Epilepsy and Convulsions - Dr Cecilla Bartels
  Epilepsy is highly prevalent in Kenya, although exact data are not known. The prevalence varies from place to place, depending on the environmental and social circumstances, which are important, e.g. rural areas, which have fewer health care facilities, hence more morbidity. The author expresses her experience during her three-year stay in a rural hospital in western Kenya, where she worked as a medical officer.
• Problems in the Management of Epilepsy in Children in India - Dr Geeta Rangan and Ms M. Vijay Prema
  We have about two and a half to three million children with epilepsy. Twenty per cent of these, i.e., 500,000-600,000 children would have obvious learning disabilities and another equal number would need special educational facilities for learning and behavior problems.
• Problems In Medical Care
• Aramedical Care For Those With Epilepsy And Other Disabilities
  The Spastic Society of Karnataka started a diagnostic and research center for developmental disorders, which became operational from June 1998. The services are given at a subsidized rate, or without charge for the needy. The center has been built, equipped, and is being maintained from donations.
• A Letter from India - Dr. Rajendra B Kenkre
• Imran’s Djinn - Christine Miles
  A report was promoted by the paper by Susanne Weingart “Illness-Experience of Moroccans with Epilepsy” in Epicadec News, April 2000. It concerns a Pakistani boy with epilepsy who went with his family to Britain where his father works.
• Some Aspects of Epilepsy Care in Russia - Dr A B Guekht And Dr E Gusev
  The problem of epilepsy in Eastern Europe is very important and it deserves special attention, especially in the framework of the ILAE/IBE/WHO Global Campaign against Epilepsy “Out of the Shadows”. The problem of children with epilepsy, however, has to be seen against the background of epilepsy care in general. There is an established system of epilepsy care in Russia.
• Reproductive Life of Dutch Women with Epilepsy - Parveen Nahar
  This paper is part of the outcome of an explorative and qualitative study in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master degree in medical anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. Its purpose was to establish the way in which women with epilepsy perceive and experience the influences of their illness on their reproductive life and self-image.
• From The Literature
  On Safari In Medline
  
  - Ann Neurol 2000 Aug;48(2):140-7. Predictors of multiple seizures in a cohort of children prospectively followed from the time of their first unprovoked seizure. Shinnar S Berg AT, O’Dell C, New stein D, Moshe SL, Hauser WA.
  
  - Epileptic Disord 2000 Mar;2(1):45-51. Treatment of children with “ordinary” epilepsy. Camfield PR, Camfield CS
  
  -Epileptic Disord 2000 Mar;2(1):3-13. Neuropsychology of childhood epilepsy: pre-and postsurgical assessment. Lassonde M, Sauerwein HC, Jambaque I, Smith ML,Helmstaedter C
  
  - Neurol India 1999 Sept; 47 (3):210-3. Factors of error involved in the diagnosis of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: A study from South India. Murthy JM
  
  - Lancet 1998 Jan 3; 351 (9095) : 19-23. Randomised controlled trial to assess acceptability of Phenobarbital for childhood epilepsy in rural India. Pal DK, Das T, Chaudhury G, Johnson AL, Neville BG.
• ILAE/IBE/WHO - Global Campaign against Epilepsy
  Gradually the Global Campaign is realizing its objectives, Europe, Africa (in French and English), and Latin America have issued a Declaration on Epilepsy, India and North America will soon follow.