Stroke in Myanmar: attitudes and treatment

The burden of stroke in low-middle-income countries has increased during the past few decades but has decreased in developed countries and it is important to know why; though it may be attributed primarily to attitudes toward stroke management and prevention among doctors, and consequently in the population. We have conducted a study to investigate how stroke is managed in Myanmar, south-east Asia, with a population of approximately 60 million. We found that attitude differed markedly from that reflected in international guidelines. We expected this attitude to be reflected in the general population and speculate that the poor development and sub-optimal work on prevention and treatment of stroke stems from these attitudes.