The Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Oujda is hosting, from 9 to 14 February, the work of the first edition of "Brain Week", which is being held with the participation of a panel of national experts and specialised students.

This scientific event, organised by the "Cognition for All Club", provides for a series of activities for the general public (workshops, entertainment, film screenings, conferences, round tables, and debates) and aims, according to its initiators, to raise public awareness of the discipline of neuroscience, to explore the mysteries of the brain, and to unlock the secrets of this key organ on which the whole body depends, through scientific popularisation and the simplification of neuroscience concepts.

Mental illnesses, which constitute the leading cause of disability in Morocco and in the world, are experiencing remarkable growth due to the lack of information among the general public on how the brain functions, they note.

The brain can suffer from various pathologies such as neurological diseases (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, brain tumours, cerebral palsy, etc.), psychiatric diseases, and sensory organ deficits, pathologies that often have dramatic consequences, they explain.

On the menu of this event are, in particular, a permanent exhibition around five themes: "memory, vision, love, reflex movement, and pain", guided tours for school groups, popularisation conferences intended for the general public followed by debates, film screenings around neurological issues, in addition to thematic workshops around the brain (rehabilitation, neuropharmacology, and neuroimaging).

Brain Awareness Week was created in 1996 at the initiative of an American association (Dana Alliance for the Brain) which set itself the goal of raising public awareness of the importance of brain research.

Since that date, this event has taken place simultaneously every year from 10 to 16 March in about sixty countries around the world. It brings together a multitude of actors (universities, hospitals, research organisations, patient associations, schools) to make known the progress of brain research.