SEARO news

03 May 2023

Bhutan stroke care improvement program

Dr Jeyaraj Durai Pandian, President Elect of World Stroke Organization was invited by Her Majesty Queen Mother Sangay Choden Wangchuck, Kingdom of Bhutan to oversee the stroke care implementation during the month of March 23. As part of the WHO SEARO program, his team from Christian Medical College, Ludhiana (Dr Dorcas Gandhi, Dr Ranjit Injety and Dr Pranay Jasper) and St Stephens Hospital, New Delhi (Dr Ivy Sebastian, WSO Board member) visited Bhutan.

The team met with the Honorable Health Minister of Bhutan Dr Dasho Dechen Wangmo. The discussions were on collaborating to scale up the stroke program by integrating with the National NCD program. The delegation interacted with Dr Kinzang P. Tshering (President), Dr Guru Prasad Dhakal (Dean), Dr Tashi Tenzin (former Dean) and Dr Yangchen (Internal Medicine Physician) of the Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan. Dr Tashi Tenzin (Neurosurgeon) and Dr Yangchen (Physician) are the Stroke champions for the country. Currently there are 3 stroke units run by physicians.

Dr Jeyaraj Durai Pandian and his team with the Her Majesty Queen Mother Sangay Choden Wangchuck

(Dr J. Durai Pandian with Her Majesty (Dr J. Durai Pandian with the Honorable
Queen Mother Sangay Choden Wangchuck) Health Minister Dr Dasho Dechen Wangmo)

Association of Srilankan Neurologists (ASN) 16th Annual Congress and National Stroke Association of Srilanka annual meeting, Colombo

Dr Jeyaraj Durai Pandian, President Elect of World Stroke Organization was the Guest of Honor at the Association of Srilankan Neurologists (ASN) 16th Annual Congress (February 24th to 26th) representing World Stroke Organisation (WSO). Dr Pandian in his speech deliberated about the vision and mission of WSO and the global activities in awareness, education, advocacy, and implementation of stroke care. He also delivered a talk on stroke prevention at a community level. On March 25th Dr Pandian participated at the National Stroke Association of Srilanka annual meeting and he spoke about WSO stroke center certification program.

Civil Society Summit (C20) as part of G20 summit held in New Delhi

A policy summit for the civil society (C20) as part of the upcoming G20 summit was organized in New Delhi from April 7th to 9th. Dr Jeyaraj Durai Pandian, President Elect of World Stroke Organization was invited to speak on Policies related to stroke in the Noncommunicable diseases section. He stressed the Integrated approach to reduce the global burden of stroke by improving access to stroke care, prevention, and community integration. The framed policy will be taken up for further discussions by the Core committee in July 2023. The final plan is to submit to the G20 Health group to incorporate in the health policy document which will be disseminated in the month of September 2023 in the main G20 summit.

NCD heart talks webinar on accelerating cardiovascular diseases and stroke control

The WHO South-East Asia Region (SEARO) organized the NCD heart talks webinar on accelerating cardiovascular diseases and stroke control on May 4th. The session aimed to introduce the WHO SEARO initiative for accelerating CVD control (SEAHEARTS) and illustrate national action for hypertension and diabetes in countries of the region. The program was organized by Dr Cherian Varghese, Regional adviser on NCDs, WHO SEARO. Several experts and policy makers from India, Timor Leste, Bangladesh, Srilanka and Thailand participated in the webinar as speakers and panelists.

Dr Jeyaraj D Pandian, President Elect, World Stroke Organization (WSO) spoke about the various WSO’s initiatives in reducing the global burden of stroke. He discussed the relationship between hypertension and stroke and stressed on the prevention of stroke using an integrated approach. He shared his experience of Improving stroke care in SEARO countries (Bhutan, Timor Leste, Maldives, Nepal and Srilanka) using WSO Stroke roadmap. Dr Bente Mikkelsen, Director, NCD department, WHO gave the closing remarks. More than 150 participants globally attended the webinar.

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Our partners and sponsors

Achieving our vision of a life free from stroke is a task that WSO cannot achieve alone. We are committed to building our partnerships at the global, regional and national level to scale up and deliver improvements in prevention, treatment and support to reduce the burden of stroke.