World Stroke Congress 2025 Highlights India’s Push for Rural Stroke Care

The 17th World Stroke Congress (WSC) 2025, hosted in Barcelona, Spain, served as one of the most influential international platforms for advancing stroke science, clinical care, and public health initiatives.

Organized under the leadership of Carlos Molina (Spain), Luciano Sposato (Canada), and WSO President Dr. Jeyaraj Pandian (India), the event united over 3,000 experts- neurologists, researchers, clinicians, and policymakers from more than 100 countries to exchange ideas on the latest advancements in stroke science and treatment.

The WSC 2025 emphasised multidisciplinary collaboration, featuring experts from across continents.

Speaking at the WSO – ISA Joint Session Dr. P. Vijaya, President of the Indian Stroke Association (ISA), highlighted* the country’s ongoing initiatives to decentralise stroke care and make timely treatment accessible to every district. She emphasised the urgent need for setting up district-level stroke units across India.

We must build scalable, low-cost models, extend our reach into rural and semi-urban areas, and create seamless networks that ensure no patient is left behind due to geography or infrastructure. Only through this kind of collaborative, grassroots effort can we truly make stroke care accessible, equitable and effective across the entire nation.

Early diagnosis and treatment within the golden window of 4.5 hours can save countless lives, but this is possible only when local healthcare systems are equipped and trained. Our focus must be on building networks where every district hospital can identify and treat stroke cases swiftly before referring them to higher centres.

By empowering local health teams and integrating telemedicine, we can bridge the urban-rural gap and ensure equitable access to quality stroke care.”

As Director of the Ankineedu Advanced Stroke Center Dr. P. Vijaya, received the World Stroke Organization’s Diamond Status Award at WSC 2025 for Excellence in Stroke Care for the 5th consecutive year. This is a rare honour among centers across the world.

Dr. Vijaya is also honoured to be a part of the World Stroke leader’s team invited by the Consulate General of Spain. She interacted with the Catalonia Health Minister and health officials.

During the congress, ISA showcased its flagship awareness campaign ‘Brain Stroke – Time to Act’, designed to improve public understanding of stroke symptoms and emergency response. The association also introduced training programs for physicians and paramedical staff, promoting better acute stroke management and rehabilitation outcomes.

The ISA’s active participation at WSC 2025 reaffirmed India’s growing role in the global fight against stroke. Through collaborative learning and innovation, these efforts aim to ensure that every stroke patient in India receives timely, quality care, no matter where they live.

Dr. Arvind Sharma, Secretary, Indian Stroke Association (ISA) said, “ Indian Stroke Association (ISA) is also on the Board of World stroke Organisation.

As a Board Of Director he attended the board meeting at Barcelona to discuss the Strategy to create awareness across the world and happy to share he was appointed as Committee member on Stroke support organisation for developing policy for all support groups across world.

He also delivered a talk during ISA WSO joint session and enlightened on Unmet Needs and Opportunities to Improve Stroke Rehabilitation in India.”

At the plenary, Dr.Dilip Yavagal presented the positive results of GRASSROOT study, which evaluated the first mechanical thrombectomy device developed in a low- and middle-income country (India).

Dr.Vijaya explained that this can be a game changer to make Mechanical thrombectomy affordable and accessible to all needy patients and is the best example of Make in India initiative and commendable step forward for LMIC-led innovation.