Pediatric neurosurgery in the Middle East: present and future

The Middle East is the term used for more than ten countries with populatio ns characterized by different ethnic roots and religions and with diverse p olitical and economic power. It is probably the most unstable part of the w hale world, having spent centuries struggling for a settled situation. Refl ecting this political turmoil, the health problems and priorities in these countries are very different than in western countries. Medical association s, including neurosurgical associations, in most of these countries have ve ry little communication with international societies compared with such ass ociations in other parts of the world. Although one or two neurosurgeons in almost every country in the region enjoy some prominence in the internatio nal neurosurgical arena, almost no society-based relationships have been es tablished among Middle East countries. Pediatric neurosurgery has been rega rded as a subspecialty in the Middle East countries for the last two decade s. Although it is not well organized except in Turkey and Israel, most of the countries in this region now have neurosurgeons who give special attention to pediatric neurosurgery within their general neurosurgical practice. Prac ticing neurosurgeons are few and and far between; there are certainly not e nough of them to allow specialisation in specific fields of neurosurgery in most countries in the Middle East. Moreover, owing to political and econom ic problems, most countries in the region are behind the standard neurosurg ical agenda. Nonetheless, the flow rate of papers submitted to Child's Nerv ous System from several countries in the region has been slowly but progres sively increasing. Hopefully, political stabilization in the near future wi ll activate progress in pediatric neurosurgery along with neurosurgery in t his region.