Brain and nerve care
Think it is a stroke? Check BE-FAST.
A stroke is blood not reaching part of the brain. Cells die within minutes. One sign is enough to act on.
When were they last completely normal?
The clot-dissolving treatment works best within about four and a half hours of the first sign. The hospital will ask you this, so work it out now.
Someone is having a fit
Epilepsy is a medical condition. It is not a curse and you cannot catch it.
Keep them safe. Once the shaking stops, turn them gently onto their side so they can breathe.
Do
- Note the time it starts.
- Move hard or sharp things away.
- Put something soft under the head.
- Turn them on their side once the shaking stops.
- Stay until they are fully awake.
Do not
- Do not put anything in the mouth.
- Do not hold them down.
- Do not give food or water until they are fully awake.
Go to hospital if: it lasts more than five minutes, another follows without them waking, it is their first fit, they are injured, they are pregnant, or they do not wake up properly.
Signs that must not wait
If any of these is happening, treat it as an emergency and get to a hospital.
A headache with any of these needs a doctor
With any of these signs, do not just take a painkiller. See a health worker or go to hospital.
Keep track between visits
Exercises, diaries and readings, kept on your phone. They work with no connection.
Ask about the brain and nerves
English, French or Pidgin. It runs on this device and guides you. It is not a doctor.
The conditions themselves
What each one is, when it is an emergency, and what helps.
Why we started with the brain
- About one neurologist per million peopleCameroon was estimated at 1.11 per million in 2015, nearly all in Douala and Yaoundé. Bamenda and the rural North-West have almost none.
- Stroke leads the wardIt is the most common reason people are admitted for a brain problem here, driven mostly by untreated high blood pressure.
- Epilepsy is common and badly treatedNot by medicine alone. Stigma keeps people away from care that works.
- A health worker plus a specialist closes the gapThe patient stays where they are. The case travels instead.
Neurologist density: Tembe-Fokunang and colleagues, Challenges in studying neuroanatomy in sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Cameroon (2025). Stroke and epilepsy patterns: WHO guidance and Cameroonian hospital series from Yaoundé and Bafoussam. This page guides. It does not replace an examination.