WHO STEPS stroke manual: the WHO STEPwise approach to stroke surveillance

Overview

Lack of data on stroke from many countries hampers efficient coordination of stroke prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. Due to future demographic changes, strategies to reduce future stroke burden and ensure adequate health resources are urgently needed. WHO STEPS stroke surveillance provides the framework for data collection and comparisons between and within populations.

The purpose of the manual is to provide guidelines and supporting material for sites embarking on a STEPS stroke surveillance study, so they are able to:

• plan and prepare the surveillance study scope and environment
• recruit and train data collection staff
• establish and maintain the stroke register
• report and disseminate the results.