Neurology Team Working to Improve Stroke Care in Nigeria

June 2025

In Nigeria, stroke is associated with unusually high death rates and disability. Through the Improving Stroke Care for Better Health Outcomes in Kano, Nigeria project, a team from the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health, Bayero University and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital is working to change that. 

The project is designed to improve stroke outcomes in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve this, the team at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital - a busy government hospital - monitors the usual stroke care. Lessons learned from the usual care phase of the study are then used to inform a second phase called the low-resource stroke unit (LRSU).  

Stroke units like this have been shown to improve stroke mortality and disability in high-income countries. Though similarly promising for low-to-middle-income countries, this research is necessary to prove its effectiveness.  

A team at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano, Nigeria works to improve stroke outcomes.

The team is comprised of faculty from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Bayero University and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria. The Northwestern team includes Philip B. Gorelick, MD, MPH, professor of Neurology and lead principal investigator, and Dilip K. Pandey, MBBS, PhD, MBA, research professor of Neurology and lead co-investigator. The Bayero group includes Lukman Femi Owolabi, MD, PhD, professor and lead principal investigator, and Aliyu Ibrahim, MD, MS, professor and lead co-investigator. 

“There is an urgent need to reduce the rates of death and disability due to stroke in Nigeria,” Gorelick said. “A strategy which can be tailored to be used in a low-resource setting such as in Kano is needed.” 

The low-resource stroke unit approach provides an opportunity to move the needle in a positive direction for patients who experience stroke. By better organizing stroke care, providing a simple stroke treatment and prevention protocol for every patient and providing quality improvement feedback in a stroke patient’s hospital care, the team is working to improve outcomes.   

“Without the generous funding from the Northwestern Havey Institute for Global Health, we would not be able to carry out this important and innovative research,” Gorelick said. “The work we do is important to the sub-Saharan African region as we develop a model for low-resource settings whereby we may reduce the deadly and disabling complications of stroke.” 

This project is supported by the Havey Institute for Global Health Global Innovation Challenge Grant.

Philip B. Gorelick, MD, MPH, is a professor of Neurology in the Division of Stroke & Vascular Neurology in The Ken & Ruth Davee Department of Neurology and a member of the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health. 

To learn more about the Program for Global Neurology, visit their website. 

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