Regional and Global Implications for Children’s Brain Health

The majority of the world’s children with neurological disorders live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) but still lack access to specialty care. There remains a bias in resource allocation to high-income settings; this includes the focus of research that historically has not accommodated children in LMICs. As such, recommendations are driven from high-income setting data. Compounding influences on brain health in LMICs include poverty, malnutrition, environmental toxins, impact of war and displacement, and failure of prevention programs (e.g., vaccination roll-out). Further, in these settings, the neurologic burden of infections and neuroinfectious is high. Globally, other detrimental influences on brain health are obesity and excessive screen time, which are becoming prevalent regardless of location.