Abstract
Pediatric neurology is the medical subspecialty responsible for diagnosing and managing diseases and disorders of the nervous system in childhood and adolescence. In many, but not all, regions of the world the discipline of pediatric neurology is recognized as a specialty or subspecialty of either Neurology or Pediatrics. Significant knowledge and competencies in this area are necessary to be effective in clinical practice. The need for this is driven by the high burden of disease from neurological conditions in children and the impact on their families.
As the first part of a multi-staged project under the auspices of the International Child Neurology Association, in collaboration with key stakeholders, a survey was undertaken to establish which countries have practicing child neurologists. For those countries that have child neurologists, the survey established the number of practitioners, and which countries have access to in-country child neurology training.
Responses were obtained from 177 countries. Worldwide there is a median of 0.07 and mean of 0.39 child neurologists per 100 000 population. The greatest deficits in child neurology specialists and access to training were evident in countries which fell under the world bank rating of low income country status (range of 0 to 0.008 child neurologists per 100 000 population). Seventy-three percent of low income countries lack access to child neurologists: the majority are in the African and South-East Asia Regions. For the population of 1.37 billion in the continent of Africa there were 324 child neurologists, equating to median 0.01 per 100 000 population in comparison to a median of 0.59 child neurologists per 100 000 across high income countries. Ninety-four countries had capacity to support in-country pediatric neurology training.
Worldwide there are inadequate numbers of child neurologists and great need for increased training capacity.
- Received December 18, 2022.
- Accepted in final form May 30, 2023.
- © 2023 American Academy of Neurology
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
You May Also be Interested in
Costs and Utilization of New-to-Market Neurologic Medications
Dr. Robert J. Fox and Dr. Mandy Leonard