Headache Medicine 2021, 12(4):271-272 p-ISSN 2178-7468, e-ISSN 2763-6178
271
ASAA
DOI: 10.48208/HeadacheMed.2021.43
Headache Medicine
© Copyright 2021
Editorial
The Brazilian Headache Society: From broad social benet to
scientic-academic advancements
Marcelo Moraes Valença
1
, Elder Machado Sarmento
2
, Eliana Meira Melhado
3
,
Juliana Ramos de Andrade
1
, Mario Fernando Prieto Peres
4
1
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
2
Associação Latino-Americana de Cefaleia, Brazil
3
Centro Universitário Padre Albino – UNIFIPA, Catanduva, São Paulo, Brazil
4
Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
O
n October 22, 2021, a new board was elected for the Brazilian Headache Society (
Sociedade
Brasileira de Cefaleia
, SBCe) triennium 2021-2024, with Marcelo Moraes Valença as president,
Elder Machado Sarmento, treasurer, and Eliana Melhado, secretary.
The Brazilian Headache Society was founded in 1978, and is now consolidated, with effective
membership in other international societies in the eld, such as the International Headache Society
and the American Headache Society.
1-3
The SBCe has successfully fullled the goals of continuing
education and research support linked to its scientic journal
Headache Medicine
(eISSN 2763-
6178) in recent decades. In the last term, under the presidency of Elder Sarmento, there was mod-
ernization and investment in the scientic journal
Headache Medicine
,
4
in order to pursuit criteria
for international indexing, with the publication of articles of good scientic quality.
Basic research activities for a better understanding of the pathophysiology of different painful
neurological disorders and their clinical manifestations are also stimulated by our society.
Currently, the SBCe has 351 active members (Table 1) from various professional categories inter-
ested in diagnosing and treating headache disorders.
Continuing education is another imperative goal of SBCe, creating courses and various other
events with doctors, dentists, physiotherapists, psychologists, and other professionals involved in
treating patients suffering from headaches.
In Table 1, we show the distribution according to the profession of the 351 SBCe members. We
emphasize that the vast majority of these members are physicians (n=283), followed by dentists
(=32) and physical therapists (n=16).
Members of the SBCe are distributed among 26 states and the Federal District of Brazil, and the
sex representation is 62.4% (n= 219) men and 37.6% (n=132) women. São Paulo is the state with
the highest number of members (n=109), followed by Paraná (n=45) and Minas Gerais (n=42),
as shown in Table 2. There is at least one associate member of the SBCe in 140 cities of Brazil.
Marcelo Moraes Valença
mmvalenca@yahoo.com.br
Received: December 3, 2021
Accepted: December 10, 2021
272
ASAA
Valença MM, Sarmento EM, Melhado EM, Andrade JR, Peres MFP
The Brazilian Headache Society: From broad social benefit to scientific-academic advancements
Table 1. The number of members of the Brazilian Headache Society for
each profession.
Professional category n %
Biologist
1 0.28
Biomedical scientist
1 0.28
Dentist
32 9.12
Physical educator
2 0.57
Pharmaceutical
1 0.28
Physical therapist
16 4.56
Physician
283 80.63
Nutritionist
7 1.99
Psychologist
8 2.28
Total
351 100
Table 2. The number of members of the Brazilian Headache Society in
each Brazilian state.
State n %
Acre
-
Alagoas
4 1.14
Amazonas
2 0.57
Amapá
1 0.28
Bahia
7 1.99
Ceará
5 1.42
Distrito Federal
16 4.56
Espirito Santo
10 2.85
Goiás
9 2.56
Maranhão
5 1.42
Minas Gerais
42 11.97
Mato Grosso do Sul
1 0.28
Mato Grosso
4 1.14
Pará
3 11.97
Paraíba
3 0.28
Pernambuco
15 1.14
Piauí
7 0.85
Paraná
45 0.85
Rio de Janeiro
32 4.27
Rio Grande do Norte
4 1.99
Roraima
1 12.82
Rondônia
-
Rio Grande do Sul
15 4.27
Santa Catarina
7 1.99
Sergipe
3 0.85
São Paulo
109 31.05
Tocantins
1 0.28
The new program presented during the Assembly formed
by the directors of SBCe selected the following goals for
the triennium 2021-2024 that cover social, educational,
and political issues. It is intended to:
1. Identify and support the centers and cities in Brazil
where there is medical assistance by the Unied Public
Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde, SUS) for patients
with headache.
2. Train and assist health agents and the team of doctors
and nurses responsible for serving communities concerning
the diagnosis and treatment protocol for headaches.
3. Take the SBCe and its members to the most remote
health care centers.
4. Integrate the SBCe with those countries that seek training
in diagnosing and treating headaches, as is still the case
of countries in Africa and Latin America.
5. Offering courses on (i) diagnosing and managing head-
aches and (ii) scientic writing and publication.
6. Support Academic Leagues and teaching in all spheres
(i.e., undergraduate, master´s in science, doctorate, resi-
dency, and fellow).
The next Brazilian Headache Congress is scheduled for Oc-
tober 2022 in Santos, São Paulo, a historic city founded in
1546 by the Portuguese nobleman Brás Cubas. Santos partial-
ly occupies the island of São Vicente, which was discovered
and named in 1502, in the expedition of Americo Vespucci.
Curious to know that the continent is now called America,
thanks to the presence of this navigator and his discoveries.
We will be happy to meet face-to-face all our friends and
colleagues in Santos to exchange knowledge and mainly
feel the good energy of friendship.
References
1. Valença MM. The brazilian contribution to the diag-
nosis and treatment of headache disorders.
Headache
2015;55 Suppl 1:1-3 Doi:10.1111/head.12522
2. Valença MM, Silva AA and Bordini CA. Headache
research and medical practice in Brazil: an histor-
ical overview.
Headache
2015;55 Suppl 1:4-31
Doi:10.1111/head.12512
3. Silva-Néto RP. Brazilian Headache Society: how it
all began.
Headache Medicine
2012;3(2):55-60
Doi:10.48208/HeadacheMed.2012.13
4. Peres MFP and Valença MM. Tenth year of Headache
Medicine Journal, 25 years of Brazilian publications in
the headache field.
Headache Medicine
2019;10(1):1
Doi:10.48208/HeadacheMed.2019.1
