Maintaining stroke care during the COVID-19 pandemic in lower- and middle-income countries: World Stroke Organization Position Statement endorsed by American Stroke Association and American Heart Association

Jeyaraj D. Pandian, Peter D. Panagos, Ivy A. Sebastian, Gisele Sampaio Silva, Karen L. Furie, Liping Liu, Mayowa O. Owolabi, Valeria Caso, Suhail A. Alrukn

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

For more than a year, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had a devastating effect on global health. High-, low-, and middle-income countries are struggling to cope with the spread of newer mutant strains of the virus. Delivery of acute stroke care remains a priority despite the pandemic. In order to maintain the time-dependent processes required to optimize delivery of intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular therapy, most countries have reorganized infrastructure to optimize human resources and critical services. Low-and-middle income countries (LMIC) have strained medical resources at baseline and often face challenges in the delivery of stroke systems of care (SSOC). This position statement aims to produce pragmatic recommendations on methods to preserve the existing SSOC during COVID-19 in LMIC and propose best stroke practices that may be low cost but high impact and commonly shared across the world.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9-17
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Stroke
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2022

Keywords

  • Acute stroke therapy
  • COVID-19
  • developing countries
  • pandemic
  • services
  • stroke care
  • stroke systems

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Maintaining stroke care during the COVID-19 pandemic in lower- and middle-income countries: World Stroke Organization Position Statement endorsed by American Stroke Association and American Heart Association'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this