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.