A New Atlas Arrives as the WHO Flags a Global Neurology Gap
In October 2025, the World Health Organization published its first Global status report on neurology, drawing on data from 102 member states covering roughly 71% of the world's population. Its headline finding was stark: neurological conditions are now the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide, affecting more than one in three people. The report went further, identifying deep and persistent gaps in workforce capacity, diagnostic infrastructure, and clinical training across the countries it surveyed — gaps the WHO's Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders (2022–2031) is meant to close over the coming years.
Closing a workforce and training gap of that scale starts with the resources clinicians and trainees use every day. Rosenberg's Atlas of Clinical Neurology, now in its fifth edition from editors Olaf Stüve (UT Southwestern Medical Center) and Sven Meuth (Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf), answers that need directly: 628 pages built around 628 full-color clinical images spanning fourteen chapters, from cerebrovascular disease and dementias to neuro-oncology, the epilepsies, and neuroimmunology.
In practice, that visual structure supports at least three concrete uses on a library shelf. A neurology resident preparing for board or certification exams can use the atlas's syndrome-based, image-first format for exactly the kind of pattern recognition those exams test. A practicing clinician can pull it down for rapid differential diagnosis when comparing overlapping presentations at the bedside. And a neuroscience or neurology program director can build case-based teaching sessions directly around its chapters, using the same figures a trainee will later need to recognize independently.
For academic and hospital libraries, that combination of reference, review, and teaching value in a single volume is precisely what makes an atlas format worth the shelf space — it serves faculty, residents, and students from one acquisition rather than three. Coverage broad enough for a general neurology collection, current on fast-moving subspecialties like neuro-oncology and neuroimmunology, is a reasonable bar for any institution assessing where its neurology holdings currently fall short of the gaps the WHO has just documented.
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Q&A
What does the WHO's Global status report on neurology say about the state of neurological care worldwide?
Published in October 2025, it found that neurological conditions are the leading cause of ill health and disability globally, affecting over one in three people, with significant gaps in workforce, diagnostic capacity, and training across the 102 countries assessed.
What is Rosenberg's Atlas of Clinical Neurology used for?
It is an image-based clinical reference covering the full range of adult neurology — including cerebrovascular disease, dementias, neuro-oncology, epilepsy, and neuroimmunology — used for diagnosis, board exam preparation, and teaching.
Is the 5th edition suitable for neurology residents preparing for board exams?
Yes. Its syndrome-based, image-first structure is well suited to the visual pattern recognition tested in neurology certification exams.
Who edited the fifth edition of Rosenberg's Atlas of Clinical Neurology?
Olaf Stüve, MD, PhD (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) and Sven Meuth, MD, PhD (Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf), with contributions from an international group of practicing neurologists.
Where can academic and hospital libraries purchase Rosenberg's Atlas of Clinical Neurology?
It is available now from CLNZ Books, with worldwide shipping and institutional invoicing available on request.