The heart of the working group Global Epileptology is adapted Global Clinical Care and, hence, health service and health systems research. With the research we aim at describing the current, often devastating situation in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy by conducting ethnographic and epidemiological studies. Furthermore, we conduct risk-benefit-assessments and feasibility studies with regards to the provision of essential anticonvulsant medication in low-resource settings. One focus is on long-term therapeutic treatment in a fragile environment such as the Chocó in Colombia. Another focus is on questions of diagnosis and treatment in the peripheries (for example in the most rural and isolated areas of Chile). Besides Chile and Colombia, the current country focus is on Sambia.
In the future, the working group’s aim is to also shed light on the use of telemedicine, mobile and digital health (including applications using Artifical Intelligence) to reduce the burden of disease in epilepsy in the most sustainable manner possible. This will also include interventional and quasi-experimental studies, thereby always following a participatory, socio-culturally sensitive and economically feasible approach.

Leads
Prof. Dr. med. Walter Bruchhausen
PD Dr. med. Theodor Rüber

More Information on the working group’s website