УКРАЇНСЬКА ПРОТИЕПІЛЕПТИЧНА ЛІГА

Dear Colleagues, 

With the holidays upon us, now is a time to reflect on 2022. This last year was full of activities and accomplishments across the ILAE, of which only a glimpse is featured below. Please read on to learn about some of what we have achieved together, as well as some initiatives continuing into the new year.

2022: A year in review

Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders

On 27 May 2022, World Health Organization (WHO) Member States approved the Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and other Neurological Disorders (IGAP) at the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. ILAE alongside the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE), the International Child Neurology Association (ICNA) and the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) hosted a ‘what’s next?’ webinar addressing our collaborative work to achieve all ten of the IGAP targets, which is now available to view on demand. 

This month, the WHO launched the ‘Improving the lives of people with epilepsy: a technical brief’ that presents key information on epilepsy and recommends actions to policy makers and other stakeholders regarding the IGAP global targets. 

Within ILAE, a series of Townhall meetings with Chapter leaders is presently taking place to provide more detailed information about IGAP and to collectively develop a comprehensive, whole organisation implementation plan.

Education

• In 2022, over 600 professionals from 88 countries were provided access on the ILAE Academy learning platformto more than 10,000 learning sessions addressing Level 1 Entry and Level 2 Proficiency epileptology competencies. 
• ILAE – Eastern Mediterranean and ILAE – Africa held 24 webinars throughout the year, 12 in English and 12 in French with 3,232 attendees from all six ILAE regions.
• Across the globe our six ILAE Regions held over 40 courses during the year focusing on different regional needs and covered topics ranging from EEGs for neonates to managing co-morbidities in older people.
• Six residential specialist ILAE Schools took place which were open to students from around the world.
• ILAE offered numerous opportunities for leadership training, fellowships, visiting teacher exchanges and mentorship programmes.
• The first e-Forum series featured 4 free webinars with expert speakers, open-access pre-reading materials and complementary post-session virtual cases studies for hundreds of registrants across all six ILAE regions.

Working Groups

• ILAE commissions and task forces conducted 364 virtual meetings this year.
• The Nosology and Definitions Task Force published 4 position papers on the classification and definition of epilepsy syndromes, as well as an introductory and  methodology paper for this work.
• The ILAE Chapters and College of Translators translated the list of epilepsy syndromes and abbreviations into 9 languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Ukrainian.
• The COVID-19 Task Force concluded its work by providing guidance on vaccines in 14 languages and frequently asked questions for people with epilepsy and their families in 12 languages.
• Recognizing the impact on people with epilepsy during emergencies, ILAE formed the Emergency Response (Ukraine) Task Force and Crisis Response Task Force, both of whom have contributed practical resources to the new Crisis Response webpage.
• The Research and Innovation Task Force was formed to explore the organisation’s role and potential contribution to increasing much needed research in epilepsy.
• The Young Epilepsy Section (YES) welcomed 393 new members for a total of 1,685 members across all six ILAE regions.
• The Nursing Section welcomed 550 members from 59 countries in the first six months, and they held their first symposium by and for nurses at the 14^th European Epilepsy Congress.

Journals

• As of October 2022, Epilepsia achieved an Impact Factor of 6.740 and 2.27M full text downloads.
• As of October 2022, Epilepsia Open achieved an Impact Factor of 4.026 and 160K full text downloads.
• The Impact Factor of Epileptic Disorders increased 28% from 1.819 to 2.333.
• The Sharp Waves podcast released 21 episodes in 2022 and was in the top 15% most shared globally on Spotify.
• Epigraph published 23 articles, including many translations into French and Spanish.

Congresses

• 138 delegates from 48 countries and 28 speakers participated in the online 2^nd North American Epilepsy Congress that focused on bridging gaps in services in small islands and remote areas – a new topic for an ILAE congress.
• 2,062 delegates from 87 countries participated in 166 sessions with 317 speakers at the 14^th European Epilepsy Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, which was the first in-person congress since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 689 delegates participated in 46 sessions with 101 speakers at the 12^th Latin American Epilepsy Congress in Medellin, Colombia.
• 515 delegates –  including 171 for IBE Day – participated in 49 sessions with 140 speakers at the online 14^thAsian & Oceanian Epilepsy Congress.

ILAE Online

• The ILAE website has received over 2M page views, with a 25% increase in traffic from last year to the guidelinessection landing page. 
• 15,927 accounts follow ILAE on Facebook, 3,356 on Instagram and 8,979 on Twitter.
• The ILAE YouTube channel reached nearly 5,000 hours of watch time and 1.8K new subscribers.
• Users spent about 50,000 hours throughout the year on the epilepsydiagnosis.org diagnostic manual website.

For a more comprehensive view of 2022 that showcases the efforts and impact of our whole organisation, including a special section on the critical work being undertaken by Chapters, be sure to keep an eye out for the ILAE Annual Report, available early next year!

2023: A look forward

ILAE e-Forum: Selecting the first anti-seizure medication

Registration is open for the final session of the 2022 ILAE e-Forum series, taking place on 16 January 2023 at 13:00 UTC. The panel for this free webinar features J Helen Cross (UK), Tony Marson (UK) and Eugen Trinka (Austria).

Seeking comments on new proposed guidelines

The ILAE clinical practice guideline development group for neonatal seizures has developed guidelines and expert-based consensus recommendations for the treatment of neonatal seizures. The paper is now open for public comments through13 January 2023.

ILAE Academy

The ILAE Education Council strongly encourages all ILAE Leaders to visit the ILAE Academy to see the wide variety ofeducational materials available on the platform. The Level 1 and Level 2 portfolios provide a comprehensive overview of this material. Note that one can view these site pages for free as a guest user.

Academy discount promotion

The ILAE Academy offers a 25% discount off the self-paced, online Academy program fees for ILAE chapter members. Please contact Ця електронна адреса захищена від спам-ботів. Вам потрібно увімкнути JavaScript, щоб побачити її. for more information how this can be arranged for your chapter members.

For epilepsy professionals who may not be current chapter members, there is a holiday promotion of a 25% discountthrough 8 January 2023. 

ILAE Academy courses provide either Continuing Medical Education credit (AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™) or CME-equivalent ILAE credit points for professional career development in epileptology.

Primary Care Curriculum
To meet the need in low and low-middle income countries where the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy takes place in the primary health care setting, an evidence-based and consensus-driven educational curriculum for the management of epilepsy has been developed to be used to create educational modules for primary health care providers.

An epilepsy curriculum for primary health care providers: a report from the Education Council of the International League Against Epilepsy.
Gagandeep Singh, Patricia Braga, Jaime Carrizosa, Marielle Prevos-Morgant, Man Mohan Mehndiratta, Priscilla Shisler, Chahnez Triki, Samuel Wiebe, Jo Wilmshurst, Ingmar Blümcke. Epileptic Disorders. DOI: 10.1684/epd.2022.1479.

Neurosurgical Education Video Library
The ILAE Surgical Therapies Commission is pleased to announce the Neurosurgical Education Video Library! The goal is to improve access to both technical pearls and broad concepts in epilepsy surgery around the world. View the playlist on YouTube.

5th ILAE School on EEG in the First Year of Life: From newborn to toddler
Registration is open for the residential EEG course, taking place 3 – 5 March 2023 in Cochin, India. Early-bird registration deadline: 15 January 2023

12th ILAE School for Neuropathology and Neuroimaging in Epilepsy
Applications are open for INES 2023, taking place 19 – 22 July 2023 in Campinas, Brazil. Application deadline: 31 March 2023

35th International Epilepsy Congress

Submit an abstract to share your latest findings with the international community and be considered for an oral or poster presentation during IEC 2023, as well as publication in Epilepsia! Submission deadline: 20 January 2023

Call for Nominations: ILAE-IBE Awards

Nominations are open for awards to be presented at the 2023 International Epilepsy Congress in Dublin, Ireland. Submission deadline: 20 January 2023

XVII Workshop on Neurobiology of Epilepsy (WONOEP 2023)

Abstract submissions are open for WONOEP 2023, taking place 28 August – 1 September 2023 in Ireland. The main topic is ‘extracellular space in epilepsy: pathomechanisms, biomarkers and treatment targets’. Submission deadline: 28 February 2023

Have your voice heard: Call for survey participation

• Women Working in Epilepsy survey
• International ketogenic diet registry – Delphi survey
• SUDEP Task Force survey
• Epileptic Disorders Roadmap to EEGs
• Routine EEG Quiz - expert version

Thank you for your service to ILAE that has made all our research and educational programming possible. We wish you the warmest holiday cheer and a bright new year.

We hope to see you in Dublin, Ireland, for the 35th International Epilepsy Congress, as well as at the Global Chapter Convention and the ILAE General Assembly scheduled for 2 September 2023 that will take place alongside the congress in Dublin. 

Please forward this information to anyone you think may be interested. If you want to be sure to receive regular ILAE newsletters, please click here.

Wishing you a very restful and happy holiday season.

Best wishes,

J Helen Cross

President, ILAE

International League Against Epilepsy

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