During the most recent meeting held by the World Health Organization (WHO), the executive board, with explicit support from the United States, approved unanimously a strong resolution urging Member States to take several detailed actions to prioritize epilepsy care, awareness and research. In addition, the resolution calls for the WHO Secretariat to start working on a framework program, which includes the drafting of technical documents to guide Member States in the implementation of the foresaid actions. This resolution, which can be found here, will be submitted to the General Assembly in May.
According to a detailed report provided by AES member and ILAE President Emilio Perucca, strong and detailed statements were made by nearly 30 countries, in addition to several other countries which are not board members. These statements will be valuable and influential for global, regional and local advocacy efforts. AES communicated with the U.S. representative to WHO, Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prior to the vote on the resolution voicing our strong support and cooperation in this effort.
Epilepsy organizations, including AES, will use this resolution to continue promoting the epilepsy agenda, globally and nationally, and join our international colleagues in encouraging more countries to co-sponsor this important resolution. Read the letter here.