ROW Foundation

ROW Foundation

ROW Foundation exists to improve the lives of people living with epilepsy and associated psychiatric disorders in under-resourced areas of the world.

Mission statement

OW Foundation works to improve the quality of training for healthcare providers, and the diagnosis and treatment options available to people with epilepsy and associated psychiatric disorders in under-resourced areas of the world. We partner with in-country organizations to maximize impact. We envision a future when the best treatments will be available to all people, at all times, in all the world.

At least sixty-five million people live with epilepsy worldwide. Eighty-percent of these live in low- and middle-income countries where 75%--about 39 million people-- live with untreated seizures. In sub-Saharan Africa, treatment gaps can exceed 90%. Lack of specialists for diagnosis, poor availability of diagnostic equipment and low access to anti-seizure medications are barriers to successful treatment of the disorder. Individuals, families, and communities are affected by severe social stigma, loss of education, employment discrimination, loss of income, and sometimes violence and death. Yet this condition can be successfully treated with medication about 70% of the time. Additionally, epilepsy is often comorbid with psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety.

Summary of relevant work

We address untreated epilepsy by funding training for healthcare providers (physicians, nurses, neurodiagnostic technicians, and community health workers), providing diagnostic (EEG) equipment, and making grants of psychiatric and anti-seizure medications for clinical settings and research. We're also interested in innovative ways to solve problems through community health worker models, telemedicine and research.

We're happy to begin a conversation with organizations and individuals who share our mission to reduce treatment gaps for epilepsy and psychiatric disorders in under-resourced areas of the world. While we're a funder of epilepsy programs, we also seek the support of larger funders for new programs to accelerate our ability to meet the diagnosis and treatment needs of the millions of people with untreated epilepsy in under-resourced areas.

Since 2015, ROW Foundation has facilitated grants of EEG equipment to hospitals in Armenia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Kenya, Republic of Georgia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda for the diagnosis of epilepsy and we've supported training programs for healthcare providers globally. We grant ongoing supplies of Roweepra® (levetiracetam) and Subvenite® (lamotrigine) to partners in 25 countries, as well as emergency humanitarian medication aid to Ukraine and Venezuela.

Seeking collaboration with

Other organizations
Researchers

Details

Approach(es)
Advocacy
Detection and diagnosis
Task sharing
Training, education and capacity building
Treatment, care and rehabilitation
Disorder(s)
Depression/anxiety/stress-related disorders
Epilepsy/seizures
Region(s)
Africa
Asia
Central America and the Caribbean
Europe
Middle East
North America
South America
Population(s)
Adults
Children and adolescents
Humanitarian and conflict health
Non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, stroke)
Setting(s)
Community
Primary care
Specialist care
Country(s)
United States