The Action Plan for Stroke in Europe 2018 to 2030 will be of major importance for the prevention of stroke in Europe and the implementation of adequate stroke services.
Two previous consensus conferences on stroke management in Europe have been held in 1994 and 2006. Both conferences were organised by the European Stroke Council (1994) and the International Stroke Society (2006) in cooperation with WHO EURO. The consensus documents (The Helsingborg Declaration 1996 and 2006) were utilised as the basis for setting up and planning stroke services. The declarations reviewed current evidence, set up fixed targets, and identified prioritized areas of research.
A third consensus conference is scheduled to take place in Munich in 2018, building on the experience and the format of the previous conferences. The conference will be organized by the European Stroke Organisation, in cooperation with the patient organisation Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE). The World Stroke Organization will be asked to endorse the conference.
There will be seven domains of the Action Plan, five from the Helsingborg Declaration, plus Primary Prevention and Life after Stroke.
1. Primary Prevention
2. Organization of Stroke Services
3. Management for Acute Stroke
4. Secondary prevention and organized follow-up
5. Rehabilitation
6. Evaluation of Stroke Outcome and Quality Assessment
7. Life after stroke
Each domain of the Action Plan will have 1 chairperson, and 7 other members. For each domain, there will also be two additional persons who will be responsible for the identification of the Prioritized Research Areas. Each domain will include a review of the 2006 target results, an analysis of what worked and what did not, an update of current state of the art, proposals for 2030 targets, and the identification of Prioritized Research Areas.
Besides the Prioritized Research Areas of the first six domains (without life after stroke), there will also be a separate group who will be in charge of identifying Prioritized Research Areas for translational stroke research.
⦁ Translational Research Priorities Group
The Action Plan will be led by a 12-member steering committee, 6 of whom will constitute the core working group. Members of the steering committee will include representative(s) from WHO EURO.
The draft documents will be prepared prior to the ESOC 2018 in Gothenburg.