“Why Epilepsy Must Form Core of Global Health Conversations” — Dr. Phyllis Kimani in The Herald (Zimbabwe)

📰 NeuroReach Africa is in The Herald — Zimbabwe's leading newspaper! “Why epilepsy must form core of global health conversations,” by our founder Dr. Phyllis Kimani (Friday, 12th June 2026).

Writing after this year's World Health Assembly in Geneva, she asks a simple but urgent question: when global leaders discuss the future of healthcare systems, equity and universal access, who is speaking for the roughly 50 million people living with epilepsy — most of them in low- and middle-income countries?

For many families, the burden is deeply personal. A mother travelling long distances in search of a neurologist. A child whose seizures are mistaken for spiritual attacks rather than a medical condition. A caregiver quietly carrying emotional exhaustion while navigating medication, school and safety.

Epilepsy remains profoundly misunderstood — associated in some communities with witchcraft, curses or mental illness — and these misconceptions delay diagnosis, isolate families and keep people from seeking care.

The page also carries the WHO's five steps of seizure first aid, and our message is the same wherever we work: Stay. Safe. Side. Saidia. 💜

Brain health is health. As healthcare systems evolve globally, neurological conditions in underserved communities can no longer be treated as peripheral conversations. Every story published, every myth corrected, brings earlier diagnosis, better care and greater compassion within reach.

Thank you to The Herald for giving epilepsy a place in Zimbabwe's national conversation.

#EpilepsyAwareness #SeizureFirstAid #StaySafeSideSaidia #NeuroReachAfrica #TheHerald #Zimbabwe #EndTheStigma #HealthEquity #BrainHealth #Research #Innovation #Impact