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The Present Achievements and Goals of Neurology Services Worldwide

Scientific and technological advances in medicine in the last decades reproduced in neurology a series of revolutionary changes, altering its character and scope. The efficiency of modern neurology in the management of mass and rare neurological diseases have shown its importance both for the individual and for the community: the present possibilities of improving mental health worldwide through our better understanding of behavior, of individuals and of larger human groups, accentuates the humane vocation of medicine. Neuroepidemiology disclosed a burden of neurological diseases and disorders, constituting up to 25 % of morbidity and mortality. Collaboration of basic and clinical research produced an enormous expansion of manpower, institutions and expensive facilities in neurological services in developed countries. Restrictions of financial resources in many developing countries appeared as a problem in their practical implementation. The present problems of modern neurology must be envisaged and appropriately approached through comparative investigations worldwide, trying to find the best solutions in a certain community at a certain time, respecting specific local traditions, economic resources and social conditions. The questions of the cost-benefit aspects of neurological management produced recently in a world neurological community a growing interest, recognized also in the World Federation of Neurology. A system of horizontally and vertically connected hierarchical organization of neurological services, based on active primary health service, has been proposed, applicable in all health systems. Modern societies should regard increased spending on health, and so in neurology, as legitimate and a true indicator of the responsible attitudes of the national governments towards their population: better and more efficient health service is more expensive. Prevention of neurological diseases, with a worldwide acquainting of the broad public on hazards of the nervous system and brain degradation through environmental and other noxious influences, should be one of the main concerns of the world community. The complex character of most neurological disorders with multiple risk or etiologic factors necessitates a profound understanding of underlying pathophysiology. Alongside with problems of optimal organization of neurological services, continuous education of neurologists and non-neurologists has been repeatedly stressed. The recently started collaboration of the WFN and the WHO during the XVIth WCN in Buenos Aires promises a turning point in understanding the importance of neurology in public health, engaging the WHO in noble activities of promoting care for the healthy nervous system and brain, the organ of human sensorimotor and mental capacities, in the efforts to humanize our civilization and prepare the human race for peaceful living in the 21st century.

modern neurology; behavior; mental health; rational organization; neurological services

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