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Encephalitis: an in-depth review and gap analysis of key variables affecting global disease burden
A new report from the Encephalitis Society and its scientists has identified a range of difficulties and solutions to the global impact of encephalitis which could save lives and improve the treatment and after-care of millions of people today and into the future.
The report's authors - Dr Julia Granerod, Alina Ellerington, Dr Nicholas Davies, Dr Benedict Michael, Professor Tom Solomon, Dr Ava Easton - have launched this report to support the Code Red theme for World Encephalitis Day 2022 as they believe the report identifies a number of Code Red global issues and the authors also present a range of solutions.
Now, Dr Ava Easton, the report’s senior author, and Chief Executive of the Encephalitis Society, is calling for organisations around the world to unite and change the global landscape of encephalitis.
In February 2020, Professor Tom Solomon CBE and Dr Ava Easton went on a mission to the World Health Organisation where they presented a petition signed by 28,000 people in 128 countries calling for one-voice to agree that #EncephalitisMatters no matter where people live in the world.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, they were busy working on this global baseline situational analysis of encephalitis, looking at a range of factors such as prevention, surveillance, incidence, mortality, morbidity, neurology training, and patient support and information among many other aspects of the condition.
In early 2021, the report was presented to Dr Tarun Dua, the head of the World Brain Health Unit at the World Health Organization (WHO). It was subsequently confirmed that the WHO would be keen to continue talks.
A working group was put together between the WHO and the Encephalitis Society and discussions have been progressing through 2021 and into 2022 resulting in the launch of the report and the announcement of a meeting in June via a correspondence piece in the Lancet Neurology.
The meeting will see global partners and stakeholders, including the WHO, come together to discuss how to tackle encephalitis urgently in the coming years. This will involve aligning leading global health organisations, public health bodies and policy makers who are best placed to apply the findings of the Global Impact Report, building a global response that will see a reduction in the devastation so often wreaked by encephalitis, and result in improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment for patients affected by the condition wherever they live in the world.to progress discussions around a collaboration to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the condition, particularly in low-middle income countries.
Dr Easton said:
This will be a long journey but one which will no doubt be a jewel in the crown of the Encephalitis Society’s history. We are thrilled to have been the catalyst for these conversations and we are excited about changing the encephalitis landscape around the world for patients and families whose lives are often devastated by this indiscriminate condition.
Executive Overview
In this special World Encephalitis Day edition of The Encephalitis Podcast, Dr Ava Easton sat down with Dr Julia Granerod to discuss the Global Impact Report. They discuss the report, what it means, some of the research which stood out and what's next!
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