WSC 2022: One Voice for Stroke

14 Nov 2022

The stroke world came together for the 14^th World Stroke Congress that took place in Singapore from October 26^th – 29^th 2022. This was the first in-person gathering after two previous virtual meetings. The Congress was a success, with more than 4,000 participants from all corners of the world.

Everyone was excited and eager to have a live meeting once more. Participants who weren’t able to travel to Singapore were given the opportunity to attend selected scientific sessions online, which made the Congress even more inclusive and global.

Delegates and organizers were glad to see 4,445 in-total registered attendees onsite and online from around the world – we enjoyed having stroke specialists from China, Singapore, Indonesia, the United States, Australia, Ukraine, India, the Philippines, South Korea, Germany, the UK, Thailand and many more – 104 overall!

The Congress kicked off with a glamorous Opening Ceremony during which the Director-General of the World Health Organization – Mr Tedros Adhanam Ghebreyesus provided a video address to the Congress delegates. Mr Ghebreyesus stressed the significance of stroke towards promoting health and preventing disease by addressing its root causes.

After this impressive start, each Congress Day that followed was marked by late-breaking trial presentations. Delegates had the chance to learn the results of 10 trials presented during the Plenary Sessions. Also, participants attended a number of joint sessions with partner organizations; special awards were granted, and nurses enjoyed a session dedicated especially to them. At the end of each Congress Day, participants received their daily dose of the most important Congress highlights.

Amongst the “hottest” topics at this year’s Congress were the effect Tenecteplase versus alteplase; MR CLEAN late trial; Improving access to quality stroke care presented by the WHO Implementation Taskforce.

During the coffee breaks, the delegates continued the conversation at the NCD dialogues. Informal and interactive discussions on stroke and other non-communicable diseases between a range of stakeholders and the stroke community were taking place

We extend our thanks to all those with lived experience of stroke who shared their story in the testimonial exhibition that was on display in the exhibition hall and on walk in slides in the session rooms. The exhibition included 70 testimonials from 25 countries. The testimonials are available to view on Stroke Connector.

In the meantime, the digital conversation was flourishing itself! A significant increase in our social media activity and website traffic was reported. A record was set with more than 5M hashtag impressions this year (#WSC2022) - nearly 1M more compared to WSC 2021! Tweets about the late-breaking trials, the WSO board, the Opening Ceremony found themselves amongst the most popular ones. The social media audience grew by more than 100% by the end of the WSC 2022!

The 14th World Stroke Congress finished with a memorable celebration of World Stroke Day – 29 October. Hundreds of delegates, speakers, organizers, local organizations and partners, and stroke advocates joined us for our Annual Walkathon. Together and in “One Voice” we raised stroke awareness and stressed the significance of this condition - all at the background of the most beautiful Singaporean sites.

Thank you everyone for being part of the 14^th World Stroke Congress and for joining us on this incredible journey! We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Toronto, Canada next year for WSC 2023 – 10-12 October 2023!

Useful links:

Website: worldstrokecongress.org/

Daily summaries: worldstrokecongress.org/daily-summaries/

NCD Dialogues: worldstrokecongress.org/ncd-dialogues/

Walkathon for Stroke: worldstrokecongress.org/walkathon-for-stroke/

Meet the speakers: worldstrokecongress.org/meet-the-speakers/

Testimonial Exhibition: https://stroke-connector.world-stroke.org/assets/downloads/Testimonial_ALL.pdf

WSC 2023: worldstrokecongress.org/wsc-2023/

Twitter: twitter.com/WorldStrokeOrg

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/15348501/admin/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/WorldStrokeOrganization

/Singapore in blue for the World Stroke Day/