How telemedicine helps in Epilepsy care, education and awareness (African experience)

Epilepsy is a public health care problem in Morocco because of its high prevalence (1, 1%). Patients with epilepsy and their families need education and sensitization especially in developing countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, but also in a smaller dimension in North Africa the south, where health resources and specialized personnel are lacking, there is a big need to use telemedicine and cover the huge gap of medical resources, especially in rural areas and small cities. All these factors inspired our neurology team in Marrakesh to start using new technologies for epilepsy care, education and sensitization of patients in Marrakech, other neighboring cities and different other parts of the South center and East Morocco, but also in many Sub-Saharan African countries. We started using new technologies since 2009 at Marrakesh university hospital, which is the sole center in all South of Morocco.The aim of this study is to describe the first experience with the use of telehealth (TH) in epilepsy and to show how it could facilitate and improve care, education, sensitization and reach the maximum of patients with epilepsy, and thus save time, energy and displacements.Authors showed through this work that TH offers various possibilities, to connect not only patients, families, physicians and other health professionals, but also associations. (Video conferencing; use of mobile phones, like Webex, Viber…, also use websites and tutorials). This use of new technologies is done for free up to now, with the support of our governmental university hospital.For a wide category of illiterate patients in the South & East Morocco, we use audio and video recordings, in which we exchange and explain all kind of informations related to their health state.We also provide continuous training for specialists, GPs and health professionals. Since 2016, we developed same actives in Sub-Saharan Africa, like Niger, Malawi, Gambia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and we worked under the umbrella of African Epilepsy Alliance (EAA) since its creation in January 2019. We started with epilepsy care, awareness and few months after we developed education and research using the new technologies, and we planned a very rich program of professional education, for GPs and also for nurses, supported by the EAA and many experts in epilepsy in Africa, Asia and Europe.

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