Learning

To build knowledge of the world burden of headache, the Global Burden Working Group has collated all existing incidence and prevalence data, adding to those on migraine already assimilated into the World Health Report 2001¹ and producing headache maps of the world.

Through this activity, Lifting The Burden is working with WHO to produce the Atlas of Headache Disorders, a focused derivative of the Atlas of Neurological Disorders² which identifies headache as the number one neurological health problem in primary care in the world.

The Group will later translate these data into quantified burden using WHO's established methodology.

The headache maps highlight the areas of deficient knowledge. This Group is identifying the gaps in our knowledge that should be filled, and making plans to do so. This will entail moving onto Regional or Locality fronts with new epidemiological studies.

The Working Group for Work Impact Studies is providing the crucial missing link in the cost-effectiveness of treatment argument, vital to Lifting The Burden. This is clear evidence that effective treatment of headache actually does get people back to work and recover lost productivity.
Obtaining this evidence will require intervention and outcome studies conducted in co-operation with employers.

References

^{1. World Health Organization. The World Health Report 2001. Geneva: WHO, 2001.}

^{2. World Health Organization. Atlas: country resources for neurological disorders 2004. Geneva: WHO, 2004.}