IEC 2025 | Solutions to address the impact of climate change on the management of epilepsy

I think vulnerability is the big issue that we need to solve for climate change effects on people with epilepsy. So we know that there are already vulnerable countries to climate change effects, and we know that there are also vulnerable people to climate change effects, not only the people with epilepsy, but also elderly people, for example, children, for example, pregnant people, for example, or people with some chronic diseases such as respiratory, cardiovascular or neurological disorders are considered more vulnerable to climate change effects than the others. But if we think about epilepsy, the disease is heterogeneous. So disease-based factors also contribute to this vulnerability. So I think the first practical step for the physicians to take care is to understand, to explore the vulnerability of people to climate change effects. In low-income countries that have limited healthcare, for example, or limited medical staff, or with a huge treatment gap, climate change effects will be much more significant than in other countries. So the physicians, I think, as a first step, should explore the vulnerability of their patients to climate change effects because, as I said, disease-based factors are also very important. There are also some other vulnerability factors. And then if their patients are, they believe, more vulnerable to climate change effects than other people with epilepsy, then I think the next step is giving some practical tips to their patients in order to protect them, in order to avoid some adverse weather events. And of course, the big solution depends on governmental solutions. The stakeholders, all these people, should take some responsibility in order to solve all these climate change-related adverse consequences for people with epilepsy, let’s say.

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