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This report is the first global report on epilepsy summarising the available evidence on the burden of epilepsy and the public health response required at global, regional and national levels.

This report is a call for sustained and coordinated action to ensure that every person with epilepsy has access to the care and treatment they need, and the opportunity to live free from stigma and discrimination in all parts of the world. It is time to highlight epilepsy as a public health imperative, to strongly encourage investment in reducing its burden, and to advocate for actions to address gaps in epilepsy knowledge, care and research.

This report provides a summary of research project conducted by the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Malawi. The study used the Key Informant Method (KIM) to estimate the prevalence of moderate/severe physical, sensory and intellectual impairments and epilepsy among children in two districts (Ntcheu and Thyolo) in Malawi. This report presents summary of the study’s background information, aims and objectives, key findings, conclusions and recommendations

This brief provides a summary of the learning-from-experience process on Handicap International's project "Promoting access to medical care, ensuring the school, social, family and community integration of epileptic people in Rwanda." Strategy and intervention methods are highlighted along with the community-based approach
Brief SD/LL 04

This report presents an action plan to scale up services for mental, neurological and substance use disorders for countries, especially low and lower middle income countries. It describes the mhGAP programme, outlines framework for country action and emphasises the building of partnerships. This resource is useful for people interested in scaling up services for mental health in developing countries

This book describes a number of simple and effective measures for the primary prevention of selected mental, neurological, and psychosocial disorders. Addressed to policy-makers as well as mental health professionals, the book aims both to increase awareness of the potential of primary prevention and to encourage the use of specific interventions. Four disorders are covered: mental retardation, epilepsy, suicide, and burnout of health care staff. Each disorder is discussed according to a common format that includes information on the size of the problem, risk factors and causes, and measures available for primary prevention. The book adopts a public health approach, arguing that the multifactorial causes of most mental and neurological disorders requires broad-based strategies involving many different sectors. Recommended lines of action range from simple procedures to measures at the legislative level. [Publisher's abstract, amended]

A morning in the poorer parts of Dar es Salaam is described, during which Mama Kitenge visits families with children having mental and other disabilities and works with these children and their caregivers