Let’s Cure Paralysis

A global call to unlock the hidden potential in neuroscience and data

Hello, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to listen to me. My name is Auður

Guðjónsdóttir, and I am the founder and the chair of the Institute of Spinal Cord Injury in

Iceland.

Today, I want to talk about an issue that is very close to my heart.

In 2022, the World Health Organization launched the Decade of Action for Epilepsy and

Other Neurological Disorders. The initiative will continue until 2031.

In the beginning, the WHO intended only to launch a decade-long initiative for epilepsy

but among other things, due to my extensive work and the Embassy of Iceland in

Geneva, and with support from the U.S Embassy in Geneva, the entire nervous system

was included in the initiative.

As can be seen in the action plan of this initiative, the word CURE appears three times:

On page 6 (“treatment or cures”), on page 30 (“potential for cure”), and on page 31

(“create the potential to cure more neurological disorders”). The reason the word CURE

is included in the action plan is that I asked the Icelandic authorities to work on having it

added, and they succeeded.

The reason for my request was twofold. Firstly, to make it clear that the WHO

emphasizes the importance of using this Decade of Action to bring the world closer to a

cure in the nervous system. Secondly, 36 years ago, one of my daughters was injured in

a car accident, suffering both a traumatic brain injury and a spinal cord injury paralysis.

From that moment, I followed international research in spinal cord injury and

neuroscience as closely as I could an it has long been my suspicion that valuable

scientific knowledge in these fields remains underutilized and does not benefit the sick

and injured.

In my professional life as a registered nurse, I have witnessed great progress in

medicine, for example in oncology and cardiology. The same cannot be said regarding

the nervous system.

When my daughter became paralyzed in 1989, the main treatment for spinal cord injury was rehabilitation for self-care in a wheelchair for those who retain some strength in

their hands.

When she passed away last year, the main treatment for spinal cord injury was still

rehabilitation for self-care in a wheelchair. Individuals who are paralyzed in all four limbs

are unable to rescue themselves. The WHO considers this the most severe condition a

person can experience.

Back in 1989, I was told that so much was going on in spinal cord research that the cure

must be just around the corner.

Decades later, no global strategy for curing spinal cord injury has been developed,

despite extensive research on the nervous system across many countries. The same

can be said for most neurological disorders.

Therefore, I ask: What has become of all this scientific work over these decades? How

is it possible to clone animals and probably humans too, although we are not told about

it, but it is not possible to cure the nervous system?

Maybe that's just because the nervous system is not approached in a sufficiently firm

and organized way.

The international neuroscience field lacks leadership to get closer to a cure. The WHO

needs to take on that leadership.

In a speech delivered by Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Head of WHO, on February 3,

2025, he called for ideas for changes from member states that would better serve the

people of the world.

He said: “For us, change is constant and that's what our Member States told us when

we started the reform. Change is a constant. We believe in continuous improvement,

and we would welcome suggestions from the United States and all Member States for

how we can serve you and the people of the world better. So although we are doing a

lot of reform, additional is welcome.”

I am grateful for these words of Dr. Ghebreyesus, and I would like to respond by putting

forward a proposal on how WHO can better serve the people of the world.

Now I challenge the WHO to establish a task force to review the field of neuroscience,

to consolidate existing knowledge, and explore how artificial intelligence can reveal

crucial connections in current datasets that may lead to a cure for paralysis and other

neurological disorders.

I believe that the knowledge needed to create the breakthrough that the world so

desperately needs is hidden in the details of the data that already exists.

I know that this is a big task. That is why the WHO needs to take the lead.

Worldwide, about three billion people suffer from neurological disorders.

Those of us who have studied health sciences are familiar with the stories of Ignaz

Semmelweis, Louis Pasteur, Jonas Salk, and others, and the challenges they faced in

convincing others – efforts that ultimately led to great advances for humanity.

I do not compare myself to these distinguished figures; however, I firmly believe that if

the WHO were to give neurological cure the focused attention I am advocating, it could

ultimately result in significant benefits for humankind.

Thank you.

Open our eyes. Scientific knowledge is available. Open databases on spinal cord

injuries – information is available. Go beyond borders. Doctors and scientists are

accessible.

I call upon the world. Let’s cure the paralyzed.



Institute of Spinal Cord Injury, Iceland.

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