Epilepsy Care in Mongolia: Current Problems and Future Prospects / 国際保健医療

ABSTRACT

<b>Preface</b><br> We have been carrying out a project to improve epilepsy care in Mongolia since 2002, in collaboration with the global campaign of WHO, ILAE (International League Against Epilepsy) and IBE (International Bureau for Epilepsy).<br><b>Epilepsy in Mongolia</b><br> In Mongolia, the number of patients with epilepsy has been increasing. The current problems of epilepsy care in Mongolia are as follows<br>1) There are few epilepsy specialists, including surgeon, resulting in insufficient management of epilepsy care.<br>2) Few diagnostic instruments such as EEG, CT, MRI, blood testing are available even in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. In addition, these tests are very expensive.<br>3) Lack of drug supply and incomplete health insurance system prevent many patients from stable long-term treatment.<br>4) Difficulty in access to medical institution due to immature infrastructure of transportation hampers early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.<br><b>Our activities</b><br> We developed a program for improving epilepsy care. Three workshops were held in Ulaanbaatar where 50-150 physicians participated (2002, 2007 and 2008) for lectures and case discussions. We also accepted a neurologist for training of epileptology at our institute. We offered two analogue EEG machines along with necessary consumables.<br><b>Future prospects</b><br> Most important in Mongolia may be to bring up epileptologists and establish epilepsy network. Because of the chronic shortage of human and medical material resources, there should be a center of epilepsy treatment in Ulaanbaatar, where medicine and consumables can be steadily supplied and transported, and the information network be prepared. Recently, an educational program of the epilepsy for the general public, “Quality Of Life Program”, has been undertaken, which is of high significance in Mongolia to solve stigma and to prevent epilepsy.