Creation and PR Support of the Federal Social and Educational Project – Stop-Insult

Strokes are a global problem of modern times. Every 30 minutes, one patient with a stroke dies or becomes disabled. This is caused not only by the consequences of stroke, but also by the lack of medical assistance or its untimely provision to a patient. In Russia, strokes rank second among natural causes of death.

Over the past years, the medical community has been making enormous efforts to change the situation. Based on the results of 2015 — the year of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) control, the activities carried out within the framework were aimed at raising public awareness of the problem of strokes and improving the quality of medical care — WHO classified Russia as a country that is most effectively combating non-communicable diseases. At the moment, patients with good functional recovery after treatment is about 60%, whereas previously this rate had not exceeded 30% .

Timeliness and quality medical care constituting the main weapon of stroke control have been underutilized so far. Therefore, the next step for the health care system should be directed towards strengthening resources, particularly the medical community: improving the skill levels of specialists in interdisciplinary teams, establishing procedures for well-coordinated work, and stimulating their continual professional advancement.

Boehringer Ingelheim, a global pharmaceutical leader, one of few experts pro-actively involved in implementation of international stroke control programs and cooperation with interdisciplinary medical experts, put forward the initiative to launch an educational and incentive program aimed at developing the competencies of the Russian medical community in the fight against CVD.

Strokes are a systemic problem being resolved by interdisciplinary medical experts, supervisors of medical institutions, federal and regional public officials. The success of the fight against strokes directly depends on the effectiveness of their interaction. Therefore, a demand arose for a project that, on the one hand, would provide for large-scale re-training of physicians (raising their skill levels, teaching modern methods of stroke prevention, diagnosis and treatment, organizing effective interaction among experts of interdisciplinary teams) and, on the other hand, would be supported by supervisors of medical institutions and representatives of regional authorities.

The Federal Social Educational Project Stop-Insult was created in order to promote further development of specialized stroke centers, strengthen the cooperation of interdisciplinary medical experts and encourage the medical community’s further improvement. The All-Russian Award in the Domain of Stroke Control “A Time to Live!” has become the most important direction of the project.

Being sensitive to the fact that it would be difficult for a foreign company to unite representatives of the Russian medical community and state authorities at federal and regional levels under its aegis, Boehringer Ingelheim delegates the powers of the project initiator to the National Association for Stroke Control, which has been recognized at the professional level, in that the company reserves the status of a general partner.

In order to increase the status of the project among the representatives of health care authorities at federal and regional levels and to ensure its implementation at regional level, a decision was made to carry out the project under the patronage of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation.

Federal Social Educational Project—Stop-Insult includes three main directions:

• The All-Russian Award in the Domain of Stroke Control “A Time to Live!” is supported by the Ministry of Health Care of Russia and is handed out every other year both for the merit of particular regions and the achievements of public officials, heads of medical institutions, individual medical specialists and teams in the domain of stroke control.
• Large-scale information campaign (VKontakte, Facebook, Odnoklassniki) for physicians dedicated to the problem of stroke control, including creation of a unified information and communication platform, where experts will not only be able to get comprehensive and relevant information as to prevention, treatment and subsequent rehabilitation, but will also be able to communicate with their colleagues, share experiences, get advice or recommendations online.
• Educational programs for specialists aimed at providing insight into physicians with practical skills for daily professional activities, as well as webinars with the participation of Russian and foreign experts in interdisciplinary medicine, clinical discussions and onsite master classes.

In February 2016, the identity of the Stop-Insult project was developed; A Time to Live! award was launched; the patronage of the Ministry of Health Care of Russia was received; the institutional documents of the award (regulations, templates of nomination application forms, rules for selecting the award winner, inabsentia and praesentia, medical brigades’ competition, nomination parts, prize fund, etc.) were drawn up.

In March 2016, an information and communication platform for physicians (www.stop-insult.ru) was launched. It contains up-to-date information about the disease, methods of its prevention and treatment (articles, interviews with experts, Q&A materials, reviews, infographics, video reports, etc.), as well as a built-in online forum for registered experts.

On April 26, 2016, the Stop-Insult project was officially launched, and the award, A Time to Live!, was presented at the press conference in Moscow with the participation of Tatyana Yakovleva, Deputy Minister of Health Care of Russia.

From March through June 2016, pro-active work with the nominees and the laureates was carried out; a field audit of medical centers was performed involving the Russian and foreign auditors (Nicolas Cristodolu from Greece, Alvidas Yozevichus from Lithuania, Enrike Varela from Spain) to confirm their compliance with application requirements.

Within the framework of media support, 26 specialized federal and regional mass media providers became information partners of the project and the award; interviews and articles dedicated to the award nominees and laureates were published in federal and regional mass media.

On June 10, 2016, A Time to Live! award ceremony was held in Moscow within the framework of a key industry event — the VIII International Congress “Neurorehabilitation 2016”. The ceremony was opened with a welcoming speech by Veronica Skvortsova, Minister of Health Care of Russia and Chairwoman of the Award Committee.

In September 2016, educational programs were launched in the regions in the form of clinical discussions, webinars and onsite master classes.

1. A Time To Live! award has become the first professional award that rang up the triumphs of regional medical authorities:

• The Award Committee was headed by Veronica Skvortsova, Minister of Health Care of Russia. Also participating in the work of the committee were representatives of health committees from the State Duma and the Federal Council.
• Over 80 applications were received from 63 regions of Russia and nearby countries.
• 12 laureates in 7 nominations were honored with the awards.
• The honoring of the winners was carried out in the way of a key industry event with nearly 2,000 participants, including lead Russian and foreign experts of interdisciplinary community, representatives of regional health care authorities, heads of medical institutions, medical teams.

2. The website www.stop-insult.ru has become a consolidating tool for physicians for the long run:

• • Over 400 publications, 10 videos, 5 infographics, 2 photo galleries and 2 leaflets were posted from March through June.
  • During this period, traffic figures amounted to 12,000 visitors, visit depth was 3.76, and the number of unique users was equal to 9,000 persons.
  • 339 experts were registered on the discussion board.

3. The total coverage of the information campaign exceeded 7 million experts (physicians, medical attendants and paramedical staff, heads of medical institutions, representatives of regional health care systems, students of specialized universities).

4. In follow up of the campaign, over 360 positive publications appeared in federal and regional specialized papers and general interest media.

5. Based on qualitative measurements performed among the guests of the awarding ceremony, laureates and winners of the award, online platform participants and the representatives of specialized mass media, the Stop-Insult project has become a timely and important step that helped consolidate the efforts of experts in the domain of stroke control. The important thing was that, for the first time ever, “A Time to Live!” award rang up the triumphs of regional medical authorities at federal level.