Abdessamad El Ouahabi,
CAANS President (2024-2026)

CAANS has been in existence since 2012 and has greatly impacted Neurosurgery in Africa. A lot has been achieved and much is being done to ensure CAANS’ viability and sustainability. This is thanks to the concerted effort of its founding members and all African Neurosurgeons. To ensure continuity, the CAANS 2024-2026 team under the leadership of its President will work relentlessly to consolidate what the predecessors have established viz: 

• Increase the capacity of neurosurgical  care  by  speeding up Basic Neurosurgical Education and Training locally in Africa
• Built Global Consensus and Strategy for Education and Training in Neurosurgery in Africa through South – South and International collaboration.
• Encourage research in neurosurgery and allied sciences and increase accessibility to digital  learning
• Educate the public on neurosurgical diseases and promote public health neurosurgery.
• Raise funds and increase financial support for scholarships and equipment to reach a larger number of Neurosurgeons in needs.

Our two-year action plan will focus on five main activities:

• Education and training
• Exchange Programs between Neurosurgery departments  in Africa and other continents
• Creation of the CAANS  journal
• CAANS website, Newsletter, Social Media and Research
• Fund raising

Education and training: We will Support and strengthen  Education and Training Programs in  Africa which should be adapted  and matched to the current continental needs . This aligns with the WHO Global Surgery Strategy for 2030 aimed at Bridging the gap in Neurosurgical care and Education in Developing  countries in Africa   by  2030. This will be achieved via: 

• The Development  of independent  and sustainable local training Programs and practice in Africa.
• Increasing the number of positions for trainees  in National and Regional WFNs accredited Training Centers in Sub Sahara Africa  
• Creating additional WFNS Reference Centers, and Establishing  Centers of  Excellence in Africa
• Setting up network of Training Centers in Africa countries with homogenization of Educational Programs
• Retaining existing Neurosurgeons in their home countries to avoid brain drain. 

Exchange Programs between Neurosurgery departments in Africa and other continents: We will   support exchanging program  for Young Neurosurgeons from Africa to  learn sub-specialties ,new techniques and to elevate  the quality of Neurosurgical care.

We will  organize a bridging system  to define the necessity and the way of contribution of each international center to these exchange programs.

We will support exchange Programs for Young Neurosurgeons  from HICs   to get involved in “Global Neurosurgery” Missions in Africa.

CAANS  Journal: Africa needs a strong and  representative journal  with a good impact factor. This we will put in place during our mandate. The philosophy of our CAANS Journal will be to encourage submission of  local clinical experiences and about Global Neurosurgery, eliminate  barriers to publications for young neurosurgeons as well as provide support  to improve on the the quality of submitted   articles. Through the journal, we will keep track of  the evolution in neurosurgery research and  care in Africa.

CAANS website, Newsletter, Social Media:  CAANS  should improve its capabilities of Information.
We will  contribute to the improvement of  CAANS website  to be more attractive and more accessible.

Support and improve CAANS  Newsletter as  a major communication channel between delegates.

Our  presence on social media will   provide: a platform  for real time direct communication and reporting about  neurosurgical activities in Africa

Fund Raising: As CAANS President, I intend   to mobilize all existing resources : Special programs from governmental support and Establish partnerships  with Medical industry and International institutions. The Establishment  a CAANS Foundation is a priority .

Lastly, we hope to foster unity and collaboration amongst different stakeholders in the continent for the development of a sustainable neurosurgical systems within the continent.