Stroke made headlines in Kazakhstan as multiple news outlets including major television channels reported on two milestone events during April.
On 16 and 17 April, the first Angels Initiative Central Asia Train the Trainer Workshop brought together participants from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia for a two day workshop designed to strengthen stroke care systems across Central Asia.
Coverage of the event included interviews with Dr Yerzhan Adilbekov, National Coordination Center for Emergency Medicine and chairman of the Kazakh Stroke League, who used the opportunity to raise public awareness of the risk factors for stroke.
Days later, the spotlight shifted to the Kazakh province of Aktobe, location of the first four Angels Regions not only in Kazakhstan, but in all of Central Asia.
Angels Region status for Aktobe, Khromtausky, Mugalzharsky, and Shalkarsky, mean these districts are officially ‘safe for stroke’ having met all the criteria set by the Angels Regions strategy. In practice this means meeting the population’s needs in terms of access to evidence-based stroke care, high standards of hospital and prehospital care as evidence by outstanding performance in the ESO Angels and EMS Angels Awards programs, and achieving targets for public awareness education through implementation of the FAST Heroes program in schools.
Guests at the celebration included heads of the Departments of Healthcare and Education, underlining the critical importance of government support and collaboration with regional opinion leaders to reach the goal of becoming an Angels Region.
This, along with the leadership role adopted by Dr Nurbakyt Serikova, Head of the Stroke Center at Aktobe Medical Center, has now elevated Aktobe province to a proud landmark in stroke care in Central Asia.
