Headache Education in the Global South
摘要
Opportunities for medical professionals to access high-quality headache-specific medical education remain a drawback facing those with primary headache disorders within the global south. Factors that contribute to this lack of access include a poor availability of postgraduate medical training and a global shortage of specialist neurologists. While this is true for many of the nations located within the global south, specific national and regional limitations that stifle access to headache-specific medication remain poorly defined. To best assess these specific limitations, this chapter reviews the number of physicians per capita, opportunities for postgraduate medical education, neurology training programs, headache training programs, and access to tertiary/advanced headache centers within each nation of the global south. During a review of the global south, it was recognized that many nations face similar regional limitations. Most worryingly, many nations located within sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania reported extremely low rates of physicians per capita and many nations in the region reported no official postgraduate training opportunities in neurology. Secondly, multiple global south nations, predominantly located within East Asia, boasted superior access to post-graduate migraine and headache training. However, these nations remain significantly limited in the quality of the training opportunities when assessed with currently recognized standards of care amongst high-income nations. Lastly, brain drain remains a major driver limiting the expansion of headache educational systems as many highly trained headache specialists frequently emigrate from regions including Central & West Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin & South America. To limit further discrepancies in headache education amongst nations of the global south, initiatives that increase both neurology training opportunities and boost the output of economic and efficient educational materials are imperative.