Strokes impact millions of lives yearly, with one in four adults over 25 affected. Health consequences can be severe, causing disability and death, and straining families. Our Angels Initiative exemplifies our commitment to advancing stroke systems of care, transforming outcomes through innovation and collaboration. This is why, in 2023, we introduced “Angels Cities” to address stroke symptoms faster by activating communities and fostering partnerships across cities.
Angels Initiative: Building stronger stroke systems of care
The goal is clear: to save lives and reduce long-term disabilities. This is achieved by connecting community education, emergency services, and hospital excellence. Optimizing collaboration across different partners of stroke systems of care in Brazilian cities has already led to a reduction in stroke mortality.
One important element is the program FAST Heroes. It teaches children from public schools to recognize stroke symptoms early on and encourages them to share these learnings with their families at home. Through Angels Cities, this coordinated approach has helped ensure that thousands of patients receive faster, life-saving access to care after a stroke, helping them return to the lives they once knew.
- 87% of all stroke deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
- 81 Brazilian hospitals were certified and 6 cities became Angels Cities.
- 100,000 students in Brazil were reached by FAST Heroes within a single year.
- 10% fewer people died trom stroke in Angels Cities in the first year.
- 25% is the thrombolysis rate across all Angels Cities, exceeding the national estimate of 7%.
- 1.5 days sooner, on average, patients can leave the hospital in all Angels Cities.
Our goal is to transform 100 cities or regions into Angels Cities by the end of 2027. Essential to achieving this is to prioritize stroke care, invest in necessary resources, and foster a culture of awareness and support. Awareness is key, and we’re mobilizing everyone who has a role to play within this ecosystem approach, even children.
Our commitment
By 2030, we aim to expand access to healthcare for 50 million people, will invest 35 billion EUR in health innovation and research to tackle non-communicable diseases, and an additional 250 million EUR in partnerships to combat emerging infectious diseases.
The Angels Initiative is the largest stroke community in the world, encompassing 227,000 healthcare professionals from more than 8,700 hospitals in 157 countries. To date (status: 2025), it has helped close to 19 million stroke patients.
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