Leonardi (L): "At the Ean Congress a session on the neurology of war"

"Uncertainty and fragility affect not only patients but also doctors"

"I organized a session called 'Neurology & War'. I never thought I would have to do it. The topic of the neurology of war is more relevant than ever today due to new types of weapons and health issues related to nearby conflicts. We have deeply understood the fragility and uncertainty that affect not only patients, but also young doctors who live in a complex era. Today we have 3 wars close to us: the Russian-Ukrainian one, the Azerbaijani-Armenian one and the Israeli-Palestinian-Iranian one. Only 5-6 years ago we were not even ready to talk about war". This is what Matilde Leonardi, Chair of the Communication Committee of the European Academy of Neurology (Ean) and member of the board of the Italian Society of Neurology (Sin), said to Adnkronos Salute about the topics of interest to specialists at the 11th Ean Congress underway in Helsinki.

"War changes everything. It changes public health, it changes the perception of fragility, and it changes our way of thinking about brain health," Leonardi emphasizes. "The 450 million European citizens - he observes - feel more fragile." Furthermore, in this time, "our chronic patients have more difficulty accessing care, we have fewer doctors, there are migratory flows, a shortage of specialists. It's a problem for everyone, not just Italian. We also discussed it with American colleagues in a bilateral meeting."

In this context, Leonardi suggests, "we believe it is essential to focus on two things: on the one hand on the empowerment of people through prevention - a topic that was unthinkable in neurology up to 10 years ago - and on the other on the structured organization of the care network. In the case of stroke, we have shown that it can be prevented through healthy eating, blood pressure control, and cholesterol reduction. But we have also seen that, by opening stroke units, we have reduced disability from strokes in Italy by 39%. This means that prevention and early care work".