Health: stroke, first cause disability: This article explores the topic in depth.
However,
Health: stroke. Moreover, first cause disability:
While Morocco records more than 30,000 brain vascular accidents (stroke) each year, prevention and management policies are struggling to respond to the scale of a scourge which is now increasingly affecting young adults. However, Insufficient access to early diagnosis, in particular in rural areas, aggravates an already critical situation.
Every 17 minutes, a Moroccan is the victim of a stroke. Similarly, This statistic. Moreover, revealed by several national epidemiological studies consolidated by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, testifies to the silent magnitude of a health drama. Therefore, On average, more than 30,000 strokes are recorded each year, making it one of the first reasons for hospitalization in neurology. For example, Pathology now represents the second cause of mortality in Morocco. However, with more than 33,000 annual deaths, according to data from the Directorate of the Population.
health: stroke, first cause disability
But beyond lethality, the burden of stroke is also measured in lost years of life and chronic invalidities: more than half of survivors retain lasting motor or cognitive sequelae, compromising their autonomy and their social reintegration.
The recent evolution of the profile of the victims worries health professionals. If the elderly remain the most exposed, young adults – especially those aged 35 to 55 – are increasingly concerned. This progression is explained by the rise of poorly controlled risk factors: smoking. drug use, high blood pressure not detected, but also unbalanced diet and increasing sedentarity, especially in peri -urban areas.
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According to data from the national survey on risk factors for non -transmitted diseases (STEPS 2021), 29.3 % of Moroccans suffer from high blood pressure, but a large health: stroke, first cause disability part ignores it, due to the lack of regular screening. At the same time, almost 20 % of men smoke daily, and the prevalence of obesity continues to increase in women (29.4 % according to HCP).
If the occurrence of a stroke requires management within 3 to 4 hours after the first symptoms – a period known as the “therapeutic window” -, the average admission period in specialized structures in Morocco often exceeds 12 hours, according to practitioners interviewed in the Rabat and Casablanca University Hospital.
The causes are multiple: delay in recognition of signs by relatives, absence of local neurology services, deficit of trained personnel, or even low availability of neurovascular units (UNV). To date. Morocco has only a dozen operational UNVs, concentrated in large cities, which deprives rural populations of fair access to an efficient emergency medicine.
Health: stroke. first cause disability
Still stammering public policies
Faced with this observation, the Ministry of Health has launched several structuring sites. The national strategy for prevention. control of non -transmitted diseases 2020–2029, developed with the support of WHO, includes stroke in its priorities. Among the objectives set: 25 % reduction in premature mortality linked to cardiovascular disease by 2029. strengthening early screening, and promoting healthy lifestyles through national awareness campaigns.
Another component relates to the territorial organization of the care offer. The reform of the regionalized health system. which began in 2023 in the context of the generalization of the AMO, provides for the rise of regional CHUs, the creation of specialized poles, and progressive equipment in emergency imaging and thrombolysis in provincial hospitals.
Despite these advances, several specialists alert persistent systemic flaws. The absence of target campaigns on stroke. the lack of coordination between SAMU, hospitals health: stroke, first cause disability and neurologists, as well as the difficulties of financing post-AVC treatment (physiotherapy, speech therapy, cognitive rehabilitation) constitute major brakes on an effective response.
Patient associations are demanding better management of post-AVC disability and a rise in preventive medicine. Like several countries in Latin America. South Asia, some experts plead for the establishment of a national stroke route with standardized protocols, increased training for general practitioners and a reinforced community relay.
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