Chapter Name: South African Chapter of the ILAE
Report By: Dr R Govender

Publications:

Summary of Activities:

Paediatric Epilepsy Activities
The past year was a fruitful one in terms of epilepsy related meetings/activities in South Africa. A number of Paediatric Epilepsy Training 1 (PET 1) courses were held throughout the country. The PET course is an initiative of the British Paediatric Neurology Association (BPNA). A South African faculty was trained to teach the course in Feb 2016. This course has been developed to improve practice within childhood epilepsies. It is suitable for all health professionals providing primary or secondary level care for children with epilepsy.

The meetings held this year were as follows:

  1. Paediatric Epilepsy Training Course 1- 12/5/2018- East London. Dr Isabel Michaelis was the faculty chair and there were 22 attendees.
  2. PET Course 25/8/2018- Durban. Dr Lawrence Mubaiwa was the faculty chair and there were 46 attendees.
  3. SAPA meeting with PANDA track – 30/8/2018- 1/9/2018- Cape Town. This meeting covered a range of paediatric neurology topics including epilepsy
  4. PET Course 20/10/2018- Cape Town. Professor Regan Solomons was the faculty chair and there were 46 attendees. This PET course marked the 3 year audit by BPNA of the standard of the South African teaching courses. Professor Helen Cross attended this course to conduct the audit.
  5. PANDA Weekend 21/10/2018- Cape Town. The annual PANDA weekend took place at the Sports Science Institute and the focus this year was epilepsy. The program covered a range of pertinent topics in paediatric epilepsy including genetics of epilepsy, epilepsy surgery and co-morbidities in epilepsy. Professor Helen Cross together with local faculty presented the talks. There was also an interesting case presentation session where interesting and challenging patients were presented. There were 66 attendees at this meeting.

In addition, other PET 1 courses were held in other parts of Africa and were supported by a South African faculty.
These included:

  1. April 2018 – Kenya – this included an extended African faculty (92 delegates, and an additional 25 African faculty were trained). The South African faculty that supported this meeting were Professor Jo Wilmshurst and Professor Gail Scher.
  2. May 2018- Ghana (Kumasi) – 94 attendees Professor Jo Wilmshurst supported the first PET there.
  3. September 2018-Tanzania (Dar) – 61 attendees Dr. Gill Riordan supported the first PET there.
  4. Nov 2018 – Kenya – Professor Gail Scher supported the PET course there.

Adult Epilepsy Events South Africa 2018

  1. The Neurology Association of South Africa held their annual congress in March of 2018, at the Elangeni Hotel, Durban. Prof AI Bhigjee hosted the meeting. The congress saw a dedicated focus on developments in the field of epilepsy. An EEG workshop focusing on the practical analysis of EEGs was held. The Groote Schuur faculty made up of Dr L Tucker, Dr E Lee Pan and Prof R Eastman (emeritus) chaired the session.
    Invited international speakers included Prof S Irani of the Nuffield Department of Neurosciences, Oxford. He presented on his extensive work in the identification and description of auto-immune epilepsies. Prof Matthew Walker of the UCL institute of Neurology, Queen Square, also made up the faculty. Topics included the Ketogenic diet, advances in AMPA receptors and Gene Therapy in the management of Focal Epilepsy.
  2. The World Congress on Epilepsy and Brain Disorders was held at the V&A waterfront, Cape Town on 22-23 November 2018. The theme of the congress was the “Elimination of Epilepsy”. The faculty included both international and local speakers. The invited African faculty included Dr T Farombi, Neurologist – Nigeria; Dr JJ Labuschagne, Neurosurgeon – South Africa and Dr CN Lownie, Child Psychiatrist – South Africa. The international faculty included speakers from India; Argentina and Canada. The conference which hosted more than 100 participants, encouraged collaborations amongst psychiatrists, neuro-surgeons, neurologists, and researchers in the field of epilepsy.
  3. In addition, the Neurological Association of South Africa (NASA), in collaboration with the University of Cape Town has developed an online distance learning program that is designed to assist the training of neurology registrars in the principles and practice of clinical electroencephalography. The program is run as a part-time course over 6 months, covering 9 modules, lasting 3 weeks each. Online forums with discussion amongst students and tutors are also available. Conveners of the program include Dr L Tucker, Prof R Eastman (emeritus) and Dr E Lee Pan. This year saw the successful continuation of the program following its launch more than a year ago.

Challenges:

Gaining government advocacy

Future Plans:

Panda epilepsy weekend 2019

Officer Election Date: 17 August 2018