BBF continues to support epilepsy care in the Central African Republic through shipments of essential seizure medications to DREAM, a healthcare program serving vulnerable communities across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Recently, Massimo Leone, Medical Director for DREAM in Sub-Saharan Africa, returned from a working visit to the organization’s epilepsy centers in Bangui, Central African Republic, where he shared an update on the growing impact of the program and the continued need for access to treatment and training.

In addition to the original DREAM epilepsy center, Clinique DREAM, a new epilepsy and neurology outpatient center is now fully operational at the University City Hospital through a partnership with the Ministry of Health. The expansion marks an important step forward in increasing access to neurological care in a region where these services are often extremely limited.

During the visit, two neurologists and an EEG technician from Italy led a three-day teaching and training course for local healthcare workers. The training was followed by two weeks of hands-on clinical collaboration at the centers. According to Leone, this combination of classroom instruction and shared work in clinical settings is central to DREAM’s approach to building sustainable, long-term healthcare capacity.

The program serves a large number of children living with epilepsy. Without access to treatment, many face significant barriers in daily life, education, and long-term health. In a country facing widespread poverty, the cost of care and medication is often out of reach for families.

At DREAM, all epilepsy services are provided free of charge.

Leone noted that support from BBF has helped ensure patients have access to essential medications, allowing many individuals to now live seizure free.

“At DREAM all the services are free of charge, a sign of dignity and justice,” Leone shared. “The [BBF] generosity has much helped our patients and a vast majority of them can live now seizure free.”

Above left: Gilbert is 4 years old. He had cerebral malaria and since then he has been having epileptic seizures. The seizures begin with a feeling of fear, and he runs to his father, knowing he’ll have convulsions soon. Since he started treatment at DREAM he hasn’t had any seizures and is now seizure free for over 4 months.

Above center and right: Grace is six years old and lives over 300 km from the capital, Bangui, in a region without neurologists (there are only three neurologists in the country). She was referred to DREAM, an EEG was performed and sent to specialists in Italy via teleconsultation. The results arrived shortly, thereafter the treatment was started. The family returned home feeling reassured and happy.