Description of an ambulatory neuropsychiatric patient population in the Gondar region, Northwest Ethiopia: epidemiologic and clinical aspects

The paper deals with the morbidity profile of 1240 patients in the neuropsychiatric outpatient department of the Gondar College of Medical Sciences in the course of eleven months in the years 1985-1986, and proceeds to compare in with a previous analysis, that of Bach and Bachmann (1987). Although the morbidity profile tallies remarkably well with that in Central Europe, the extensive practice of consulting traditional healers disguises the exact situation. Constantly shifting regional peculiarities has a great influence on the morbidity of individual clinical pictures. Epidemiological and clinical aspects are discussed in the context of the relevant African literature.