Important publication in Lancet Global Health
Important publication in Lancet Global Health
The CTRC is proud to recognize the recent publication of “Time to Confront the Global Health Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight: Why Traumatic Brain Injury Belongs on the Global Health Agenda” in The Lancet Global Health.
This publication marks an important milestone in international efforts to raise awareness of the immense and often under-recognized burden of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Each year, an estimated 69 million people worldwide sustain a TBI, with the vast majority occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Yet despite its profound and often lifelong consequences, TBI remains largely absent from major global health frameworks and is not formally recognized as a chronic condition by the World Health Organization.
The CTRC is particularly pleased to see CTRC members and collaborators, including Kathryn Hendrick, Michelle McDonald, Angela Colantonio, Jamie Hutchison, and Alexis Turgeon, contributing to and helping advance this important publication. Their involvement reflects years of work by the Canadian TBI community to advance not only scientific understanding, but also awareness, advocacy, and policy action.
This publication builds on longstanding efforts led in Canada by the CTRC in collaboration with Brain Injury Canada to promote the recognition of TBI as a lifelong condition and a public health priority, including advocacy efforts that helped advance Bill C-277, An Act to establish a national strategy on brain injuries, which received unanimous support at second reading in the House of Commons. These national efforts continue to help shape an expanding global conversation calling on governments, health systems, and international organizations to recognize TBI as a chronic condition requiring sustained attention, resources, and coordinated action.
The article outlines a path forward that includes strengthening surveillance systems, investing in prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation, and advancing formal recognition of TBI as a chronic condition within global health policy.
Congratulations to all authors and collaborators involved in this important initiative. We are proud to see CTRC members contributing to a publication that helps bring TBI to the forefront of the global health agenda.