Background and Objective: Stroke is a major health issue in semi-industrialized countries. We studied the stroke profi le and risk factors of two semi-industrialized countries - Afghanistan and Nepal that were “least talked about” in the literature. Methods: We searched the database PUBMED, BVNA (http://www-ient.unilim.fr/), SCOPUS, www.ajol.info, WHO InfoBase, using the keywords “Afghanistan”, “cardiovascular”, “cerebrovascular”, “diabetes, “epidemiology”, “hyperlipidemia”, “hypertension”, “incidence”, “Nepal”, “population-based”, “prevalence”, “smoking”, and “stroke”. Results and Conclusions: Based on population and hospital studies, stroke is common with low mean age especially in women, signifi cantly high prevalence of hemorrhagic strokes and possibly more severe. Age-adjusted death rate is higher in Afghanistan than Nepal. Observations from stroke and stroke-free subjects show that smoking is more important risk factor than hypertension in both countries. Hypercholesterolemia, overweight and alcoholism show relatively minor, but important correlation with stroke. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a growing problem in Nepal especially in urban than semi-urban and Everest regions. There is no information on Type 2 diabetes mellitus from Afghanistan. A low rate of BMI ≥25 kg/m² in Afghanistan is observed. For Nepal, with increase of age and life expectancy, predisposition to cardiovascular disease should be high. Age is not an immediate risk for Afghanistan since those 65+ and 80+ years are projected to remain stable or elevate slightly over the next 30 years.

Epilepsy in Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a neglected condition. After 5 years of research, we established some baseline information for people living with epilepsy in Lao PDR. Prevalence was 7.7 per thousand population. Stigma and misconceptions were common. Traditional beliefs and practices were prevalent. The treatment gap was 90% or more. Phenobarbital was available in less than 55% of pharmacies in the capital city of Vientiane and not available in many rural areas. There are two neurologists in the country. The neurology investigational facilities are basic, mainly concentrated in the capital city. The studies demonstrate that epilepsy is a public health concern in Lao PDR. The authors proposed a treatment intervention project involving multiple partners and a step-by-step approach.