Stroke prevention

1 in 4 of us will have a stroke in our lifetime, but almost all strokes can be prevented. If you want to avoid a stroke the first step is to understand your individual risk factors.

World Stroke Day Campaign / Why stroke matters / Stroke prevention

Up to 90% of strokes could be prevented by addressing a small number of risk factors, including hypertension, diet, smoking and exercise. Preventive action on stroke would also contribute to a massive scale reduction in stroke and would conribute to global goals to reduce cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other significant causes of death and suffering worldwide.

Cut Stroke in Half

The World Stroke Organization is leading the development and implementation of an integrated prevention strategy that has potential to cut stroke in half by 2030. With a focus on low and middle income countries where stroke is not only more prevalent but has the most devastating impact the strategy includes:

Access to low-dose combination therapy for patients at medium risk of stroke
Development of stroke specialist Community Healthworkers
Access to innovative mobile technologies that support access to prevention infomormation

Top 10 risk factors for stroke

Campaign resources

Prevention communication

Access and download informaiton and social media resources to improve awareness of risk factors and the actions we can all take to prevent stroke.

Campaign tools

Valery Feigin expert view

Why stroke prevention needs an overhaul

Expert view

Know your risk

Stroke riskometer

The Stroke Riskometer is a World Stroke Organization endorsed mobile app that helps you to understand your stroke risk and will help you to identify the changes you can make to reduce your risk. Once you have done your assessment, share your results with four friends and access all the premier features of the app for free.

Find out more