Donate NowStrokes kill six million annually and leave millions more disabled. This problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa, which suffers from a crippling lack of trained neurologists who can diagnose strokes. Although communicable diseases like HIV, malaria, and Ebola command the attention of the media and aid organizations, stroke in Africa is a growing and neglected crisis that, if unchecked, will have a greater toll.
In Zambia, there are two neurologists in a country of 18 million. One of them, Harvard-trained Omar Siddiqi, has launched a pilot program for Zambian doctors to become neurologists. Journalist Oliver Staley reports on efforts to seed Zambia with doctors trained to diagnose and treat stroke, and who then can train the next generation neurologists themselves.