WORLDWIDE, stroke continues to be the second leading cause of death but in Vietnam, it has overtaken heart disease to become the number one killer. Despite this, stroke awareness is limited. With the goal being to spread knowledge about stroke as widely as possible, the Angels team in Vietnam came up with innovative, diverse, and practical ideas for an awareness campaign to coincide with World Stroke Day last October.
A series of community activities took place from the north to the south, tailored to suit the characteristics of each region to ensure that the message resonated with the audience and achieved maximum impact.
Kicking off the programme in central Vietnam, the Angels team joined forces with the School of Medicine & Pharmacy at Duy Tân University (DTU) in the coastal city of Da Nang to launch a design competition with the theme “Stroke – Minutes to save lives”.
The contest attracted the participation of many medical students who submitted more than 50 entries, including posters, short rhymes, songs, and creative video clips about recognising symptoms of stroke. It also received an enthusiastic response from the online community, with more than 15,000 shares, comments, and reactions on the university’s official Facebook fan page.
A talk show then followed, with more than 500 students participating in an in-depth discussion about stroke.
The program ended with a roadshow. Students wearing T-shirts and caps printed with the FAST signs and hashtags #strokepleasedontstayathome, #strokepleasegotohospitalimmediately and #strokeyoungpeopledontsubjective distributed more than 2,500 FAST leaflets to Da Nang residents.
The Angels team received positive feedback after the event. “This activity made us more aware of the importance of golden time in stroke care,” a student said.
Dr Vo Thanh Hai, DTU Vice-Provost, described it as a program with “practical and humane meaning,” adding that, “We hope to continue to receive companionship from Angels with similar activities in the coming years.”
The team took the same concept to the northern city of Hai Phong where they partnered with Viet-Tiep Friendship Hospital but made some changes to suit the audience. Doctors and medical staff participated in a cycle parade through the main streets of the city, distributing more than 1,000 FAST leaflets and telling people about stroke, FAST, and what to do when someone has had a stroke. A talk show with the theme “Golden time in the treatment of cerebral stroke” was also broadcast live during a health program on television.
The chain of activities continued to spread, reaching the country’s most important economic city, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Here, the Angels team collaborated with Military Hospital 175 in an activity that significantly resonated with the Saigon people. The event, with the theme “Stroke First Aid – The race against time”, attracted 150 direct participants and nearly 4,000 followers on channels such as Facebook and YouTube, was televised on VTV and the Vietnamese National Defence channel, and received coverage in prestigious national newspapers.
Following the event, the number of patients receiving recanalisation treatment at this hospital increased by more than 30%.
Next, the team collaborated with the University Medical Centre of HCMC to conduct a livestream titled “Stroke – race every minute every second” that attracted nearly 3,000 live views (breaking a previous record of 1,800) and an estimated number of 6,000 views on other news channels.
The campaign was then rolled out to the remote western provinces of Vietnam, kicking off in the Mekong region with a joint activity with the Can Tho University of Medicine & Pharmacy Hospital. Addressing 1,300 medical students, the program covered topics such as the signs of stroke, the do’s and don’ts when encountering a stroke patient, and information about hospitals that can provide emergency treatment to stroke patients. The program was widely promoted on the official YouTube channel of Can Tho Television and the school’s fan page, and was reported in the local newspaper.
Another audience demographic that the team wanted to reach was the volunteer ambulance drivers that transport stroke patients in the An Giang province. Taking stroke patients to the right hospitals in time for emergency treatment is key to improving outcomes, and hence, the Angels team partnered with the An Giang Department of Health and the An Giang Red Cross to distribute posters to 160 volunteer ambulances in 13 districts, towns, and cities. Another 80 posters were pasted onto ambulances of district medical centres and hospitals that fall under the Department of Health.
In another masterstroke to expand the audience, the Angels team targeted coaches, a popular intercity means of transport, especially in in hustle cities like HCMC or Hanoi. Tens of thousands of people use coach stations every day, which prompted the Angels team to work with the Stroke Centre of Bach Mai Hospital to display a FAST poster with the hotline number on 25 routes at the Nuoc Ngam station, one of the three largest coach stations in Hanoi.
A survey conducted one month later showed that the coach drivers’ knowledge of the signs of stroke had increased by 100 percent.
In 2023, the Angels team will continue to stick posters on the remaining routes and make banners and slogans to display at the coach station.
The social distancing policies created by the COVID-19 pandemic had helped the team gain experience in organising online events. With the return of the rhythm of life, they used hybrid methods to get closer to their goal of increasing the community’s understanding of stroke. After all, the more people who are aware of stroke, the more lives that can be saved.
The Angels team says: “During our five years in Vietnam, the Angels Vietnam team has always worked closely with associations, organisations, stroke centers, and stroke units to do more and create more innovative ways to approach stroke. And as the processes in each hospital are gradually perfected, the more important thing now is to raise the level of awareness in the community.
“We will continue to work on the mission of trying to reverse the burden that stroke has placed on our S-shaped country.”
