CAPE TOWN (AFP) - Africa has only one neurosurgeon for every 1.2 million people, a challenge topping the agenda at an international neurosurgery conference held in South Africa, organisers said Monday. "There are 700 million people on our continent with 565 neurosurgeons, that is one surgeon per 1.2 million people," said retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu who opened the conference. In Africa poor diet and peri-natal care means higher incidences of treatable conditions -- such as water on the brain, spina bifida and tuberculous meningitis -- than anywhere in the first world. "Something basic like the treatment and management of hydrocephalus (water on the brain) is very different in Africa because of the cost of the treatment and the expertise needed," said William Harkness of Britain, who is on the board of the International...
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