Only 2% of Poles admit to have brain disorder – results of a Polish Brain Plan related survey revealed during the press conference in Warsaw

In November 2015, the EBC launched a Call to Action, calling on the European Commission to come forward with a European strategy to tackle brain health, and on European countries to implement comprehensive public health programmes tackling the brain at national level.

Against this backdrop, EBC is now working with several countries on the development of National Brain Plans. To this end, we are member of a steering committee formed by a consortium that works towards developing a Polish Brain Plan (PBP). Other members come from a Polish Brain Council, Neuropozytywni Foundation, as well as from health economics and legal background.

The consortium members, including an EBC representative, have recently come together on 25 October 2017 at a press conference in Warsaw. The conference revealed the findings of a recent survey conducted to gauge the knowledge levels of Polish society on brain health and brain disorders. Among many findings, it showed that only 20% of Poles think that their level of knowledge about brain disorders is good or very good. Additionally, a mere 2% admitted that they themselves have a brain disorder. This is in a stark contrast with findings of EBC study from 2011, which assessed that one third of a European population will be affected by brain ill-health during their lifetime, and confirms that the field of brain disorders, particularly including mental ill-health, remains heavily stigmatized.

Results of a survey will feed into further work related to the development of the PBP. They will aim at painting social, economic and legal diagnosis of the situation in Poland. This will, in turn, result in generating concrete proposals of changes to the current health and legal environment, including an analysis of the benefits such changes could bring.

The PBP shall be ready by the end of 2018.