IBE AFRICA REGION CURRENT NEWS AND REPORT

About the Regional Committee
The African Regional Committee is the fastest growing IBE region. In 2000 IBE had just seven members in Africa; now, there are 19 Full Members in the region. It’s now the second largest Committees after Europe.
Mission of the IBE Africa Regional Committee
To work together with interested parties in order to improve the quality of life of people with epilepsy in Africa.
Regional Committee Goals: 
•	To establish communication network between countries in order to exchange information related to epilepsy service provision. 
•	To support existing initiatives in the epilepsy field which can be applied to other countries or regions through a process of skills transfer. 
•	To promote the sustainability and accessibility of services for people with epilepsy. 
•	To promote the human rights and dignity of people with epilepsy. 
•	To support and encourage research into epilepsy in Africa. 
•	To promote greater participation of Africans in global epilepsy affairs. 
Flagship Programmers 
1.	A Star for Africa – Support through the epilepsy movement for African participation in global affairs. 
2.	Global Campaign against Epilepsy Programmed – Intensifying the campaign activities to reduce the treatment gap in Africa. 
3.	African Decade for Disabled Persons – Participation to promote the rights of Africans with disabilities and to bring about legislative changes. 
4.	IBE chapter membership recruitment – Promoting and assisting with the formation of Chapters in the Africa Region. 
Executive Committee Members:
Chair:		Zen be Goldie Dramatize, Ethiopia
Vice Chair: 	Augustine McGauran, Uganda
Secretary: 	Anthony M. Zimba, Zambia
Co-opted Members: Online de Geode, South Africa, Jacob Magmata, Zimbabwe

Regional Members:
Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, United Republic, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Regional Committee Activities from 2005 to Date
Year	 Activity 	Place of implementation 	 Program Focus	 Country/Office	Status	Comments	
2005	Africa Region Conference	 Uganda	-communication
-Advocacy
-Epilepsy   services
-Human Rights issues
	Ethiopia
Kenya
Rwanda
South Africa
Zambia
Zimbabwe	Successful 	-lack of adequate funds
-Poor communication
-Lack of government support in most African Countries	
2006	 Ado meeting 
Region Visits	Ethiopia
Gambia
Senegal 	Follow up to Uganda meeting
GCAE Program
Familiarization visit 	Ethiopia
Zambia
Secretary	Successful meeting with the government and WHO Country Rep in Gambia
Excellent Epilepsy program in Senegal	Lack of sufficient funds to hold Africa Region Meeting as planned in Kampala
       	
2007	Regional Executive meeting	 Rwanda	Chapter enlargement 	Vice Chair
Secretary
Rwanda members 	Association implementation 
 is been worked on	Lack of funds to support the Epilepsy Association formation
Lack of support by the government 	
2008	Implementation of Promising Strategy Projects

Chapter Enlargement 	Cameroon, Ethiopia Gambia, Mauritius, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Malawi
	Improving the quality of life for people with epilepsy using diverse and often novel methods
Visited to help in the  process of establishing Malawi Epilepsy Association 	 Mentioned Countries

IBE Africa Region Secretary	 Projects successfully funded by IBE

Process being worked on
	Funding to more chapters will improve the quality of lives for more people with epilepsy in the region

Good support from Malawi government, NGOs and other Stakeholders	
2009	To attend 28th IEC

 	Budapest	Scientific and Business meetings 	All Africa Regional Members expected to attend	All members communicated to	Lack of sponsorship for most of the IBE Africa Region Chapter Members to attend the Congress.	

Regional Members Implemented Activities from 2005 to Date

Country/ Chapter	Activities	Comments/Constraints	
1. The Gambia	1.	Promising Strategy project – Vegetable growing and Tailoring
2.	Advocacy
3.	Consultation with the Government and WHO on the launching of GCAE programme    	o	Lack of funds to implement most the of planned activities
o	The Association had problems of raising  funds for paying rentals for the office 	
2.  Mauritius	1.	Laid foundation stone for Epilepsy Center on 4th May, 2007
2.	Received vehicle from the Government for Epilepsy work
3.	Received assorted toys, equipment and Bursary for specialized centers for children with epilepsy from the government.
4.	Published Patient education Manual for the Epilepsy carers.	o	Good support from the government  and other stakeholders	
3. Epilepsy  Namibia	1.	Held epilepsy awareness during the awareness week
2.	Conducted workshops on epilepsy care for care givers.
3.	Held national epilepsy week /day on 21st June
4.	Publishes monthly  epilepsy newsletter	o	More programs for patients are being  implemented	
 Epilepsy South Africa   	1	Held National Media awareness
2.	National Epilepsy week
3.	National Epilepsy Day
4.	Conducted Skills development
5.	Child and youth Development Programs
6.	Protective workshops for epilepsy patients in major Cities
7.	Income generation capacity building	•	A lot of activities are conducted by ESA	
Epilepsy Association of Zambia

Zimbabwe  Epilepsy Foundation	        1.  National Epilepsy week/Day
2.	Epilepsy care training for Health workers
And teachers.
3.	Awareness Programmes on Radio/TV
4.	Seizure free day every  December
5.	Sponsors Children with Epilepsy in Schools
        6.   Received Epilepsy Programme vehicle from 
              the government 
        7.   Held successful Epilepsy Conference on 
              Epilepsy and Stigma
         8.  Conducts Epilepsy Clinics
 9.   Production of IEC Materials

  1.  Promising Strategy Project
  2.  Drug Bank Programme
  3.  National Epilepsy week                       
  4. Epilepsy youths produced 6 Track album on epilepsy 
  5. Training in the management of epilepsy in the community	•	Good support from the government and other stakeholders
•	Lack of proper Diagnostic Machines e.g. EEG and MRI
•	Lack of trained 
•	Manpower in Epilepsy 
•	care

•	Lack of sufficient Anti-epileptic Drugs
•	Lack of funds to implement most of the programs
•	Lack of government support	

Note:  Almost all members of the Africa region are involved in a lot of epilepsy 
Activities, unfortunately very few send reports

Africa Region Proposed Future Activities:

•	To spearhead the development of strategic partnerships 
•	To develop proposals on Research and training.
•	To solicit for funds to  hold workshops on the  develop of guidelines for epilepsy management
•	To Hold Regional Executive Committee Meeting
•	To Hold Regional Consultative meeting involving all chapters in the region
•	To hold a workshop on setting up of drug banks following the Chilean model and the Ugandan experience. 
•	To launch fund raising activities to support Chapters  struggle ring with funds and Increase participation  at the international conferences on epilepsy
•	To  produce IEC Materials 
•	To visit Countries where IBE chapters have not been organized
•	To hold  consultative meetings with African Heads of state to sensitize them on the need to support epilepsy programmers in their respective Countries