Global Neurosurgery Committee of the WFNS

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About us

Bogota Declaration 2016

Chair of the WFNS Global Neurosurgery Committee

Dr. Kee Park, MD, MPH

The Global Neurosurgery Initiative

PGSSC, Harvard Medical School, MA

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Coordinator for the Global Neurosurgery Committee

Dr. Tariq Khan

As Coordinator of the Global Neurosurgery Committee, my task is to be able to coordinate the different activities being carried out by the GNC.

My plan is to reach out to all members of the Committee to see what they are doing in the way of capacity building in as, improving the workforce, and looking at organizing equipment for countries that have little or no neurosurgical activity.

Also, I have started contacting a few countries which appear to have no or very basic Neurosurgical workforce.

The most successful endeavor, in my opinion, has been in Afghanistan recently. Initially, it started with myself, Kee Park and Gail Rosseau talking to one neurosurgeon in Kabul. Very soon, Dr. Ali Sultan an Afghan neurosurgeon working in the USA joined us, and through him, we were able to connect to a few other neurosurgeons in Kabul. We held weekly meetings and were organized by Dr. Radzi. Dr. Javeed another Afghan Neurosurgeon from Malaysia, joined us, and we connected to ten Neurosurgical units in Afghanistan. When there was a takeover in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of foreign troops, there was a fear of bloodshed, we were able to organize the transfer of Craniotomy sets, Laminectomy sets, and shunt sets to all ten centers very quickly. The WFNS foundation and Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons helped in this . Also then very recently 8 high-speed drills were sent over from WFNS Foundation and Prof Yoko Kato.

The Afghan Group is planning a neurosurgical conference in the next few months also.

Looking at this model we have started working with Sierra Leonne health department. Prof Gail has had initial contacts with a few neurosurgeons in Sudan, but it is on hold because of the unrest there.

We would like to achieve the following goals in different countries which need our help :

1 -Make a workforce map for each country requiring our support.

2 – making a list of equipment available in these countries.

3 – Documenting there requirements.

4- Trying to arrange trainings where ever possible.

5 - Arranging equipment through WFNS foundation and other sources.

6 - Organizing small conferences with them through GNC.

7- Organizing training sessions for Neuro nursing.

I would very much to get suggestions from everyone on what else can be done.

Thanks,

Tariq Khan

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Neurodiagnostic Team

Teguo Djoyum

The key objective of the neurodiagnostic team is to integrate neurodiagnostic capacity building in low-resource settings within Global Neurosurgery. Our goal is to facilitate the training of healthcare professionals in pre-neurosurgical diagnostics, intraoperative neuromonitoring, and post-surgical imaging. We hope to collaborate with the industry to develop a shared vision model, to assure access to affordable and compatible equipment for global neurosurgery.

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Global Spine Team

Mehmet Zileli

Global Neurosurgery Committee must be involved in training, improving, and researching spine surgery and have a pioneering role in setting the best spine care globally. Some steps to improve global spine surgery as part of the Global Neurosurgery Committee can be summarized as below: We must develop different spine training programs, especially for LMIC countries.

Live courses: Basic and advanced spine courses planned by the Spine Committee can be supported by the Global Neurosurgery Committee. Basic courses will have hands-on applications on sawbones; advanced courses will contain cadaver dissection courses. The first basic course has been performed in June 24 and 25, 2022 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The first advanced spine course will be in Kenya.

Fellowship programs: A 3-months fellowship program in centers dedicated to the spine will be supported. Host centers are expected to provide free accommodation.

Web-based learning: Many lectures and video libraries can serve the trainees to adopt their practice. Some video recordings of past webinars and virtual symposia are on the website: http://wfns-spine.org/Webinar 2-Creating up-to-date recommendations for common spinal disorders: The medical literature contains contradictory papers. Many papers are making systematic reviews and meta-analyses. However, limited high-quality studies make it difficult to guide surgeons to reach reliable decisions. Expert panel consensus meetings and the creation of recommendations after those meetings and systematic literature review have been implemented by the WFNS Spine Committee. They can be reached at the website http://wfns-spine.org/recommendations We believe that Global Neurosurgery Committee should promote consensus results of the WFNS Spine Committee to disseminate up-to-date information on spine care. 4-Collaboration with other spine societies: We already have some excellent collaborations with WSCS (World Spinal Column Society), CAANS (Continental Association of African Neurosurgical Societies), MESS (Middle East Spine Society), EANS (European Association of Neurosurgical Societies), Korean Neurospine Society. We need to develop more collaboration with NASS (North American Spine Society), Spine Section of AANS/CNS, SSE (Spine Society of Europe). There are also initiatives like SPINE20 (A global advocacy group promoting evidence-based spine care of value), which had a meeting in Riyadh in 2021. The group aims to improve spine care and prevention on a global level. This group create policy recommendations for the G20 countries and the international community to alleviate the burden of spine disease, disability, and injuries. Our group should be a part of such initiatives similar to other global and regional spine societies. Conclusions: We believe neuro-spine surgeons worldwide have the ability and sources to enforce, improve and disseminate the knowledge and research on better spine care. Global Neurosurgery Committee must support initiatives started by the WFNS Spine Committee and other groups and societies.

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Nursing Team

Camilla G. Aukrust

The overall aim of the nursing team within the Global Neurosurgery Committee is to foster collaboration and strengthen the neurosurgical nursing workforce, specifically focusing on low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). Social equity and justice are among our core values, and we, therefore, aim to focus on LMICs, which carry a greater disease burden, have weaker surgical health systems, and a limited neurosurgical nursing workforce.

Our team consists of about 20 nurses from around 15 different countries, the majority from LMICs. Our strategic plan focuses on three pillars; education and training, research, as well as advocacy, and public health. Within education and training, we plan to arrange at least one webinar focusing on core clinical aspects of neurosurgical nursing. Regarding research, we are preparing a workforce survey among nurses taking care of neurosurgical patients. Last, we aim to establish partnerships with key policy stakeholders. The creation of a common community of practice within the field of neurosurgical nursing is a positive and important benefit of the global collaboration that our team represents. Please visit our Facebook page, “Global Neurosurgery Committee Nursing Team,” or contact us by email: GNCnursingteam@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Coordination

Committee Members

Abdesaamad El Ouahabi

Morocco

Workforce Lead

Abenezer Tirsit

Ethiopia

Capacity-building Co-Lead

Choi Jun Ri

Capacity-building Co-Lead

James Johnston

United States

Innovation & Technology Lead

Jogi Pattisapu

Global Spine Surgery Lead

Patrick Kamalo

External Relations Lead

Yee Yit Cheng