Neuroscience

The prevalence of neurological conditions in North Africa and the Middle East is on the rise. In 2019, there were 441.1 thousand deaths and 17.6 million neurological DALYs in North Africa and the Middle East. Stroke, migraine, and Alzheimer’s disease were the leading causes of neurological DALYs [1]

According to a study conducted by Eastern Mediterranean Region, Mental Health Collaborators, Mokdad and colleagues indicated the global non-fatal burden and prevalence of mental disorders was “124,193,900 YLDs and 905,733,400 cases” respectively. On average, 5% of global DALYs in addition to 15.7% of YLDs globally were because of mental disorders [2].

References:

[1] The burden of neurological conditions in North Africa and the Middle East, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

[2] https://u.ae/-/media/Information-and-services/Health/mental-health.pdf

[3] Dattani S RHaRM. Mental health Our World in Data; 2021 [Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health.

Data from Dattani S RHaRM. Mental health Our World in Data; 2021 [3], revealed that Neuro-disorders are among the top 20 diseases measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), however, Accurate diagnosis statistics are difficult to determine, as mental health is underreported and under-diagnosed owing to stigma and low levels of awareness. Stigmatization reduces mental health help-seeking, which contributes to substantial underreporting of mental health symptoms, leaving an indeterminate number of cases undiagnosed.