About Us

The ILAE-Latin America region comprises South America, Central America, and Mexico where Spanish and Portuguese are the main languages spoken. Within the framework and according to the strategic plan of ILAE, the goal of the ILAE-Latin America is to serve as a regional resource for current and emerging knowledge on epilepsy prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and research.

Current efforts of ILAE-Latin America are focused on the development of national epilepsy programs, laws and telemedicine projects in the region. In the field of education, courses are being organized for the primary health level as well as specialized epilepsy care. The Latin American Epilepsy Congress is also organized in different countries of the region every other year.

As the region is extremely heterogeneous, an effort is being made to provide equal learning opportunities for health professionals in rich and poor countries and areas. Guidelines and seminal scientific articles that are available only in English are being translated into Spanish and Portuguese to increase access to knowledge.

The following task forces and programs are currently active in the region:

ALADE Task Force

The Academia Latinoamericana de Epilepsia (ALADE) organizes itinerant and pre-convention courses throughout Latin America. It provides training opportunities for medical professionals in epilepsy and educational materials in the form of books and brochures.

Latin American Summer School of Epilepsy

The Latin American Summer School of Epilepsy (LASSE) is a pioneering education program in the region that, under the supervision of ILAE, is addressed to young health professionals from throughout Latin America in order to deepen and update their knowledge on the epilepsies. LASSE is a yearly course organized in Brazil since 2007.

Regional Fellowships

Currently, in Latin America there are three one-year fellowships for training at tertiary epilepsy centers. Candidates are selected from countries with the highest need for specialized epileptologists, and they are required to return to their countries of origin with the new knowledge.

National Programs and Pilot Programs Task Force

In different countries in Latin America, epilepsy legislation and programs are already in place, and in others, programs and laws are currently being developed. This task force is in charge of the organization of national programs with pilot programs for countries without epilepsy legislation. The countries for new projects are chosen with the aim of covering different geographical areas.

Primary Care Task Force

This task force is working on the development and improvement of epilepsy in primary care with programs and courses addressed to physicians and nurses, closely integrated with specialist epilepsy services.

Research Task Force

The aim of the task force is to stimulate research in epilepsy in the region. The most important ongoing regional studies are genetics in epileptic encephalopathies in Latin America and a two-year trial in Argentina on the use of cannabis in epileptic encephalopathies, which will be a model for the use of cannabis in other countries in Latin America.

Telemedicine Program

A program of telemedicine is being developed to help provide care for difficult patients. This initiative is important for educational and academic purposes, especially for large and resource-limited countries within the region.