title: The Iberoamerican Cerebrovascular Diseases Society: 15 years moving forward.
abstract: The Iberoamerican Cerebrovascular Diseases Society was founded 15 years ago. Being aware of the increased burden of stroke in Latin America, its members have been working to enhance the knowledge on stroke among physicians in the region, to increase public awareness on stroke warning signs, and to motivate public health authorities to implement programs that speed the access of stroke patients to specialized units. Besides organizing annual meetings that have convened an increasing number of attendees, the Society has been actively involved in the elaboration of guidelines for stroke classification and therapy that will be practical for use at a regional level, as well as in the consolidation of links with other stroke societies to increase the diffusion of local stroke issues to the medical community at large. The Society is also involved in the Safe Implementation of Treatment in Stroke trial as well as in other studies that will increase the knowledge on stroke management and prognosis in the region.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Universidad Espíritu Santo - Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador.oscardelbrutto@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Oscar H
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Del Brutto
authors.forename: Exuperio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Diez-Tejedor
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sacks
authors.forename: Sebastián F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Ameriso
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Náder
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alonso de Leciñana
authors.forename: Ayrton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Massaro
mesh_terms: D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D007843:Latin America; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000639:trends*