The Nigerian Society of Neurological Sciences (NSNS), with the support of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Nigeria Ltd (GSK), the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) (Nigerian Chapter) and the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health, have partnered to release the “Guideline for the Management of Epilepsy in Nigeria”.
The document has been developed for healthcare providers who have the responsibility to care for epileptic patients, to help standardize, improve care and better manage the condition.
Speaking at the launch of the guideline in Ibadan, Kunle Oyelana, Managing Director, GSK, which supported the development of the guideline, noted that the company is glad to partner with the NSNS on the development, printing and launch of the first ever guideline for the management of epilepsy in Nigeria that was realised by efforts of the members of the Nigerian Society of Neurological Sciences, as it is in line with GSK’s mission to enable people everywhere to “do more, feel better.
“We had also worked with other organisations to support the publication of the first guideline for the management of Urology in Nigeria, and the first guideline for Asthma management in Nigeria. And I must pay tributes to the editorial team headed by Prof. Adesola Ogunniyi for their hard work, commitment, sacrifice and dedication in bringing out this guideline for epilepsy management in Nigeria”, Oyelana said.
Oyelana added that as a CSR-centric company, “GSK Nigeria is known for partnering with healthcare professionals across the nation to improve the care of patients, and to make sure that indeed, in line with our mission, patients and everybody in Nigeria are able to have better quality healthcare”.
Commending the efforts and wisdom of the team, the former Nigeria Minister of Health Professor Isaac Adewole said that it is a delight for the professionals to have considered a guideline for the management of epilepsy.
Prof. Adewole noted that the initiative will be able to help all practitioners to “acknowledge the existence of the disease; standardize our approach to epilepsy management and enable our professionals to be able to write better reports when things are standardised”.
“So it is a thing of joy that this is out and I want to commend the outcome of the excerpts, I glanced through and it is easy to read, and to me that’s commendable even for non-physicians, that it is a guideline you can easily go through within a short time. So I must commend you for the clarity. It is probably the first of its kind in Nigeria, so I want to say congratulations for this effort” he stated.
The 119-page document is presented in a simple and easy to understand format. It is filled with facts about epilepsy and approaches to the management of patients either in a stable state or during acute exacerbations.
The Acting President, NSNS, Prof. Augustine Adeolu said that the initiative was borne out of the need to understand epilepsy better and also to institute appropriate management which is comparable to world class standard.
Prof. Adeolu noted that epilepsy itself, especially in our environment, has a lot of myths surrounding it, so with the efforts of the honourable scientists with the partnership or collaboration with GSK Nigeria, the coming of the guideline is quite timely.
“All clinicians who have one thing or the other to do with management of epilepsy will find the guideline very useful because it was presented in a very simple format, for quick reference. And with that even people managing these problems in the rural areas… not only the urban centres, even in the rural areas will find it very useful” Prof. Adeolu revealed.
The guideline was achieved through the efforts of a 23-man team of NSNS and ILAE members led by Prof. Adesola Ogunniyi, a Professor of Medicine at the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
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