Stroke systems of care in South-East Asia Region (SEAR): commonalities and diversities

Ivy A Sebastian; Dorcas B C Gandhi; Padmavati N Sylaja; Raju Paudel; Yogeshwar V Kalkonde; Yangchen Yangchen; Harsha Gunasekara; Ranjit J Injety; Pranay J Vijayanand; Nistara S Chawla; San Oo; Khin Myo Hla; Tashi Tenzin; Jeyaraj D Pandian

doi:10.1016/j.lansea.2023.100289

Stroke systems of care in South-East Asia Region (SEAR): commonalities and diversities

Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia. 2023 Oct 9:17:100289. doi: 10.1016/j.lansea.2023.100289. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, St. Stephen's Hospital, Delhi, India.
² Department of Neurology and Physiotherapy, Christian Medical College and Hospital, India.
³ Department of Neurology, Shree Chitra Thirunal Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
⁴ Grande International Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁵ Sangwari, District Surguja, Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh, India.
⁶ Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, Thimpu, Bhutan.
⁷ Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.
⁸ Department of Neurology, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, India.
⁹ Department of Neurology, Yangon General Hospital, Yangon, Myanmar.
¹⁰ Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Yangon General Hospital, University of Medicine, Yangon, Myanmar.

Abstract

The Southeast Asia Region (SEAR) accounts for nearly 50% of the developing world's stroke burden. With various commonalities across its countries concerning health services, user awareness, and healthcare-seeking behavior, SEAR still presents profound diversities in stroke-related services across the continuum of care. This review highlights the numerous systems and challenges in access to stroke care, acute stroke care services, and health care systems, including rehabilitation. The paper has also attempted to compile information on the availability of stroke specialized centers, Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) ready centers, Endovascular therapy (EVT) ready centers, rehabilitation centers, and workforce against a backdrop of each country's population. Lastly, the efforts of WHO (SEARO)-CMCL (World Health Organization-South East Asia region, Christian Medical College & Hospital Ludhiana) collaboration towards improving stroke services and capacity among the SEAR have been described.

Keywords: Acute care; Rehabilitation; Southeast Asia; Stroke; Systems of care.

Publication types

Review