During early 1982 one of the authors (RGL) was privileged to spend two months in Nepal as part of an exchange program between the University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine and the new medical school at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. A short visit of this type does not qualify a Canadian neurologist to comment on the neurological-neurosurgical problems of a country such as Nepal with any degree of expertise. Nevertheless, as a result of a number of discussions between the two authors and interviews with many other physicians, both Nepalese and Western, it was possible to form some general impressions and draw some comparisons between neurologic illnesses in Nepal and Canada.

Disorders affecting the nervous system are common in Nepal. Some of the problems which are seen regularly would be considered rare and exotic in North America. However, despite the vast differences in culture, geography, dietary habits, and socio-economic conditions, there are some surprising similarities between the patterns of neurologic illness in Nepal and Canada. Disorders such as migraine, stroke, epilepsy and meningitis are well known to Nepali physicians. To appreciate the magnitude of health care problems in Nepal and to view neurologic illness in its proper perspective, it is helpful to have a few basic facts and figures concerning the geography and population of the country.