Global health

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant global health problem. Globally TBI is the leading cause of death and disability among adults aged 18-44. The effect is felt most in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 90% of all-trauma-related deaths occur. Since severe TBI disproportionately affects working-age adults, the epidemiologic profile costs LMICs, on average, 1-2% of their GDP annually. 

The NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma was founded in 2017 to study four themes:

1. Mapping TBI care: projects including Global Neurotrauma Outcome Study (GNOS), GNOS Spine, GEOTBI Registry
2. Understanding TBI care: projects including ASIA-TBI, network modeling of patient flow,  Yangon Early Warning System (YEWS)
3. Innovation categorized across four sub-themes (A: system refinement for cost-effective outcomes, B: patient triage and risk stratification, C: surgical interventions, D: collection of outcomes)
4. Research capacity building: projects including BMJ Research to Publication, Global Neurotrauma Fellowships, Neurosurgical Publication Database 

High-income countries are in a world of “precision-based medicine,” where diagnosis and treatment increasingly rely on an individual’s unique genetics and biomarkers. We need to take a similar approach when working within global health. Each country has its own socio-economic and socio-cultural signature that we must evaluate and prepare for when forming new collaborations and implementing new projects. This helps us work within a framework to develop optimal efficacy and sustainability, leading to the delivery of projects to improve the management of TBI worldwide.