Access to stroke care, treatment is limited for 90% of world's population

Stroke experts gathered at the International Stroke Conference in Houston Feb. 23 to discuss how many parts of the world have limited access to technologies and treatments for stroke.

About 90 percent of the world’s population has no access or very limited access to stroke resources that have emerged in the last 20 years, according to Werner Hacke, MD, PhD, a senior professor of neurology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and the president of the World Stroke Organization.

“Advances in stroke treatment and prevention are often expensive and available only to people living in special areas in high-income regions,” he said in a statement from the American Heart Association.

Many areas where stroke treatment and prevention are limited are communities with limited healthcare access in general. Some don’t even have access to CT scanners. Additionally, many people living in those areas are not educated on what stroke symptoms look like and what they should do in the event of stroke.

The physicians who met at the conference shared their ideas and strategies for developing stroke care protocols across economic spectrums. One area where incidence of strokes is increasing is Eastern Europe.

“Stroke is a rapidly advancing field, but it leaves many people behind,” Hacke said. “This session addresses these challenges in stroke care, as well as progress around the world. It will be valuable to practitioners, policymakers, nurses and anybody interested in improving the treatment of acute stroke.”