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One out of every six persons will suffer stroke across the world, a U.S-based Nigerian neurologist, Olajide Williams, has said.

Speaking at the
first Nigeria-Florida Neuroscience Partnership Conference on Tuesday in
Lagos, the neurologist noted that there was low public awareness on how
to recognise the symptoms of stroke.

He said that the
symptoms of stroke included sudden weakness, weak eyes, sudden
imbalance, and catastrophic headache, adding that the utmost time to
treat stroke is the first 90 minutes of attack.

Mr. Williams, an
associate professor at Columbia University, said that there were two
types of stroke – hemorrhage, which is too much blood in the brain, and
ischemic, which is low blood in the brain.

According to him,
Nigeria has only 50 neurologists to manage its 150 million
population,while Florida has 800 neurologists to take care of 16 million
people.

He urged the Federal Government to invest in telemedicine in order to link up with foreign-based neurologists.

“Health workers need
to involve people from other sectors, including school children,
musicians, and artistes on how to recognise symptoms of stroke,” he
said.

Michael Finkel, a
professor and president, World Neurology Foundation, said that the
partnership would provide opportunity to create a model for neurological
services and that the foundation’s objective was to serve as a
catalyst for thepromotion of neurological care and education in
countries in need.

The four-day
conference was organised by the Nigeria Stroke Society (NSS), World
Neurology Foundation, Florida Society of Neurology, and Nigeria Society
for Neurological Sciences (NSNS). It would focus on stroke, movement
disorder, headache, epilepsy, and clinical neurology, said the
organisers.