Dr Mehdi Farhoudi, member of the World Stroke Organization SSO Committee, tells us the exciting news about the establishment of the first SSO in Iran.
Stroke
Support Organization-East Azerbaijan (SSO-EA) was established in July 2017 and nationally registered.
When was Stroke Support
Organization-East Azerbaijan (SSO-EA) established?
What is the
context for stroke care in Iran?
Stroke, as a leading cause of mortality,
affects the large population in Iran of 75 million people. Stroke incidence has been
increasing, while the age of stroke onset is dropping. Crude stroke prevalence
is estimated to be about 150 per 100,000. Despite many limitations, intravenous
thrombolysis of eligible stroke patients has been provided in some
universities and private hospitals since 2008. Then Tabriz University of
Medical Sciences established a multidisciplinary stroke team to start systematic
thrombolysis in eligible stroke patients in 2010. After the 6th National Stroke Congress 2013
statement, a WSO endorsed meeting, and continuous and effective follow-up of Iranian Stroke Association and
Iranian Neurological Society, the Iranian Ministry of Health identified stroke as a
health crisis and the second cause of mortality. In 2015 the Ministry created the National Stroke
Committee to improve the situation of stroke patients. The characteristics
of primary and comprehensive stroke care units were defined. This led to the
decrease of the cost of the tPA drug and the cost being covered by the insurance system. The Committee
planned a road map to organize a network of stroke treatment in the country. The characteristics of primary and comprehensive stroke care units in 724 hospitals were defined; covering a population of at least 300,000. Fifty four
hospitals have been candidates in the first phase and the modalities and
guidelines for primary stroke unit were defined for them. Meanwhile there was a
plan for a pre-hospital emergency system to increase knowledge about stroke,
upgrade systems to transfer patients and to establish
comprehensive stroke units. Hopefully, Iran is going to make major progress in thrombolysis
and mechanical thrombectomy of acute ischemic stroke to cover more eligible
patients. We estimate that the thrombolytic therapy rate could increase up to 5% in
the next 5 years.
What motivated you to start the
organization?
Considering the high burden of stroke and necessity for many facilities, programs and for continuous
public activities, we concluded that we need a more powerful movement against
stroke. Given the limitation of government-based support, we decided to
establish a stroke support organization in our province to get more benefit for the people and secure charitable contributions for fighting strongly against stroke in our region and country.
Is this the only
stroke support organization in Iran?
Right
now Stroke Support Organization of East Azerbaijan (SSO-EA) is the first
registered one in Iran. We hope to establish and develop other SSOs in Iran soon.
What are the goals/priorities
of the organization?
1-
Public awareness and promotion of people and patients lifestyle to control
stroke risk factors leading to primary prevention of stroke
2-
Public awareness about acute stroke symptoms and signs for immediate and timely referral to eligible hospitals for preventing and
decreasing probable complications (secondary prevention)
3-
Support to promote diagnosis and treatment of acute stroke patients
4-
Support for better care and rehabilitation of stroke patients
5-
Support for better outpatient management
6-
Detect stoke patients problems and attempt to solve them
7-
Support research about the detected problems and stroke related
priorities
