Student
Dissertation 3rd Batch 
Title: Spinal cord lesion (SCL) in Bangladesh: A descriptive Study of patients at a rehabilitation centre -2007
Tarique Mohammad Nurul Huda
Abstract
Spinal cord lesion (SCL) is a major disabling condition often affecting young and healthy individuals around the world. Worldwide 90 million people suffer from spinal cord lesion of varying severity per year. In the US the incidence rate is approximately 50 cases per million populations, or about 14,000 patients per year. In India approximately 20,000 new cases of SCI are added every year. This debilitating condition not only creates enormous physical and emotional cost to individuals but also is a significant financial burden to society at large. Traumatic injuries are a major public health problem, imposing a greater burden on modern society than other diseases ironically they are also preventable. In the developing world there is still a high SCL morbidity and mortality
rate as a result of inadequate facility and care. In Bangladesh there is little data available on the actual prevalence of SCL. But it can be assumed that the situation of spinal cord lesion in Bangladesh will be similar to that of India and other developing countries. Given the magnitude of the challenges faced by the patients with SCL in Bangladesh and paucity of reliable data, the proposed study is aimed at identifying and analyzing the socioeconomic background and clinical as well as the rehabilitative characteristics of spinal cord lesion patients in Bangladesh.
