Health

90% of Nigerians miss out on appropriate treatment for stroke recovery — Expert

A stroke expert, Professor Mayowa Owolabi, has said only one in 10 people with stroke ends up with appropriate treatment that can ensure they can function optimally after a stroke attack, despite the increasing occurrence of the brain condition in Nigeria.

Professor Owolabi, who spoke at the opening of the fifth African Congress for Neurorehabilitation, hosted by the Nigeria Federation for Neurorehabilitation, in collaboration with the African Stroke Organisation, in Ibadan, said inadequate health personnel that can treat stroke and the high cost of treatment are major barriers to optimal stroke care in Nigeria.

The congress has as its theme, ‘Promoting Brain Health through Neurorehabilitation’.

Owolabi stated that out-of-pocket payment for stroke rehabilitation services, even when the required specialists are available, is difficult because the patient might have lost his source of income and is so economically paralysed.

The regional vice president of the World Federation for Neurorehabilitation said through neurorehabilitation, individuals with strokes and other spinal cord or nerve damage can be restored to life as much as possible.

He declared that the increasing incidence of stroke and other neurological diseases had further necessitated the promotion of brain health and the need to make it the centre of health and development agenda on the African continent.

He declared, “Our brains actually make us, so the brain is very important and critical to human health. No brain health, no health, and no wealth. So, it is important to make brain health a priority.

“The four pillars of doing that are surveillance to monitor conditions that affect the brain; prevention of some of these conditions; provision and access to acute care for stroke or any acute neurological injury; and neuro-rehabilitation, which is our focus.”

National Coordinator, Non-communicable Disease Division at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Debbie Odoh, said the burden of stroke in Nigeria is alarming, adding that more needed to be done to stem its high fatality rate.

While assuring the Federal Ministry of Health’s continuous support for policies, guidelines and programmes towards the reduction in incidence and prevalence of stroke, Dr Odoh said the ministry will soon convene a meeting of stakeholders and experts to develop guidelines for the prevention and management of stroke as a first stage in having a national stroke registry.

Professor Thomas Platz, the keynote speaker at the hybrid conference, said more than 60 percent of stroke survivors suffer from persistent neurological problems that compromise their independence with activities such as walking, holding things, speaking and swallowing.

According to him, while basic walking abilities and balance seem to be basic elements for relearning to walk, walking speed and walking distance can be improved upon through different rehabilitation interventions.

“Rehabilitation technology can generate clinical benefits, but it is not a prerequisite for effective stroke rehabilitation. The contextualisation and implementation of evidence-based practice recommendations and, hence, the establishment of clinical pathways needs to be done regionally, involving all relevant stakeholders and capacity building,” he said.

Earlier, Professor Julius Ademokoya, President of the Speech Pathologist and Audiologist Association of Nigeria, had said the government must take responsibility for stemming stroke cases, given the importance of the brain to human health as well as the human and economic capital of the nation.

“Government functionaries shouldn’t wait until one of their members or family members has a stroke before they begin to question why hospitals are not ready, why equipment is not working and why manpower is not available in our hospitals, because that is the situation at hand,” he said.

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