Strokes

Phoenix Center for Research and Field Studies has launched its annual research project in the health field, and the topic of "strokes" was chosen as this year's annual research subject and title, as strokes in the Gaza Strip are one of the most prominent causes of death and disability, as a result of social and economic conditions as well as the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

According to Ministry of Health statistics, strokes are considered the second leading cause of death after heart and coronary artery disease, and given that the Gaza Strip lives under these special and difficult conditions, it suffers from a scarcity of resources, which are considered extremely limited.

Over the past decades, stroke treatments have been continuously used and made available in developed countries, leading to improved health outcomes for their populations. However, the lack of resources and health guidelines in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has affected stroke treatment outcomes, making stroke the second leading cause of death in the region, with mortality rates higher than in developed regions.

The World Stroke Organization has developed various assessment tools and benchmark measures to monitor the level of stroke care. This project will aim to assess the level of care in the Gaza Strip using the World Stroke Organization's measures, and to identify various initiatives to help improve stroke treatment in the Gaza Strip, reduce the stroke mortality rate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and improve health outcomes for the region's population.

The project will include a detailed analysis of several aspects related to stroke care in the Gaza Strip, including the obstacles and challenges faced by medical care providers, public hospitals, and healthcare centers, the care and resources of stroke units and physical rehabilitation, and the treatments available to patients, including treatment involving thrombolytic therapy and mechanical thrombectomy, the social awareness provided to communities about the signs and symptoms of stroke, and health assessment for Palestinian citizens.

Awareness, education, prevention, and treatment for stroke must always be available. Communities and institutions must be able to set goals to continuously expand the capacities of stroke services. Given the scarcity of resources available in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and given that the Gaza Strip is unable to continuously develop stroke treatment and maintain a basic level of services, this research will help identify the necessary needs that the health sector lacks for stroke treatment, and propose various initiatives and plans to develop and improve stroke care in Gaza.

The project will include collecting and analyzing data related to stroke care in Gaza, including the obstacles and challenges faced by emergency service providers, public hospitals, healthcare centers, stroke unit care, physical rehabilitation, and available treatments, such as thrombolytic therapy and mechanical thrombectomy, community awareness and education about the signs and symptoms of stroke, and health assessment for the Palestinian population. Based on the analysis of the data collected, the project teams will identify gaps in the provision of stroke care and develop strategic initiatives to address these gaps. These initiatives may include improving the training and resources available to emergency service providers, and strengthening the care of health units.

The research will include visits to all hospitals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and a systematic analysis of the gaps in treatment. Surveys, phone calls, hospital visits, treatment monitoring, and historical data collection will be used in the research. The research report will be shared with various institutions, and the report will outline all the gaps in the stroke healthcare system and propose various initiatives for implementation in the second phase of the project.

This study is supervised by a group of researchers specialized in the fields of health and social sciences, under the supervision of the Research Committee at Phoenix Center.

The work on the project is expected to be completed by the end of next August, when the results of the work and its recommendations will be presented at a conference to be held for this purpose, to which a select group of national, health, and civil institutions interested in this topic will be invited.