I started my job  at WHO 32 yrs ago on 1st April, it has been the best joke life ever did to me!

In 1991 as Junior professional officer in charge of neurology I dreamed that neurology could become a public health issue and last year with #WHOiGAP it became! I report this on a Commentary that was just published on Lancet Neurology! https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(23)00085-6/fulltext?rss=yes

…In 1991, neurologist Matilde Leonardi was the medical officer at WHO who was in charge of the UN health agency’s efforts and output in neurology. Back then, her work mostly focused on epilepsy and, later on, the burden of neurological diseases. But throughout her time at WHO, she promoted neurology as a public health issue. When WHO announced the formation of a Brain Health Unit in 2019, Leonardi, now at Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta (Milan, Italy), was one of many people in the neurological community who welcomed it. “Finally! WHO had a Brain Health Unit”, she tells The Lancet Neurology. “For me, it was something to celebrate.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then since 1995, and till now,  I did with passion professionality and love ICF, the WHO Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, and worked for it and for making the  biopsychosocial model of disability the global reference model for disability functioning and health.

I am worldwide called ‘la mamma’ of ICF and I love ❤️this!!

Thank you 1stApril #bestjokeever