2023-07-21 09:17:20
Neurological diseases are the cause of almost 50% of disability in the world. On World Brain Day, on July 22, five objectives seek to prevent, raise awareness, educate, advocate and allow universal access in relation to disability.
The Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN)together with the entities that make up the World Federation of Neurology and the World Federation for Neurorehabilitationcommemorate World Brain Day, which this year bears the motto “Brain health and disability: leave no one behind.”
The main objective of commemorating World Brain Day 2023 is “to raise awareness that the disability caused by neurological diseases can be prevented, treated and rehabilitated,” says the doctor José Miguel Láinez, president of the Spanish Society of Neurology.
15% of the world population, that is, more than a billion people, suffers from some type of disability and almost 50% of this disability is caused by neurological diseases, 44% in Spain.
In our country, 9 of the 15 most frequent diseases among people who have a recognized disability in Spain are neurological, with diseases such as stroke, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or ALS leading the classification.
But without forgetting other neurological diseases such as migraine, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia… also prevalent and with high rates of disability.
Five goals against disability
The five goals of World Brain Day 2023 are:
• Prevention: Brain disability can be prevented, treated and rehabilitated.
• awareness: Promoting brain health may reduce disability associated with neurological diseases.
• access: Universal access to care, treatment and rehabilitation of neurological diseases is also essential to reduce the rate of disability.
• Education: Educating and raising awareness about neurological diseases helps to prevent diseases, but it also helps to empathize and understand the problems that people and their families who live with a brain disability have to face.
• Defending: Brain health is a human right that should apply to everyone, in all parts of the world.
The burden of disability
According to the World Federation of Neurology, neurological diseases are the number one cause of disability-adjusted life years worldwide.
Likewise, people with disabilities are twice as likely to develop chronic conditions that can further negatively affect brain health, such as depression, diabetes, obesity or vascular problems, and their life expectancy can be reduced by up to 20 years.
In Spain, and according to data from the SENneurological diseases are responsible for 50% of the years lost due to disability.
In addition, they are responsible for 23% of the years of life lost due to premature death and the cause of 19% of the deaths that occur each year in Spain.
“The burden of disability and the number of people affected by neurological diseases, in countries like ours, are continuously increasing due to the aging of the population,” warns the neurologist José Miguel Láinez.
And he specifies that brain disability “can affect us all, regardless of age, gender or socioeconomic level, so it is everyone’s responsibility to prioritize brain health and become aware of the important role that the brain plays in our health and in our quality of life”.
Person with Disability. EFE
Healthy habits for the brain and against disability
It has been proven that leading brain-healthy lifestyle habits, such as carrying out intellectual and physical activities, following the Mediterranean diet, avoiding tobacco, alcohol, hypertension and depression, trying to have a good mood and seeking socialization, would help prevent many neurological diseases.
It is estimated that up to 90% of stroke cases and 30% of Alzheimer’s and epilepsy cases could be avoided with these brain-healthy measures.
It is also necessary to improve the medical care received by people with disabilities. Thus, the World Federation of Neurology considers that universal access to professional care, treatment and rehabilitation is essential to reduce the global burden of disability from neurological diseases.
“Neurological disability must be considered a priority public health problem. And reducing it is the responsibility of the health, political, and educational authorities, but also of the whole of society,” says the president of the SEN.
“There are many people with neurological disabilities -he adds- who experience stigma, discrimination and social exclusion. We trust that days like today will help to illustrate the complexity of the problems that people with neurological diseases have to face and, as this year’s theme says, prioritize efforts to ensure that no one is left behind.
#goals #disability