Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke each account for around 3 million deaths a year in the Asia/Pacific region, being two of the major causes of death and disability (WHO, 2008a). Additionally, both are associated with significant health, social and non-financial costs, because of the persistent disabilities suffered by many survivors. Treatment for AMI and stroke has advanced greatly over the past decade. Until the 1990s, treatment focused on prevention of complications and rehabilitation. But following the great improvements in AMI survival rates that were achieved with thrombolysis (Gil et al., 1999), clinical trials also demonstrated the clear benefits of thrombolytic treatment for ischemic stroke (e.g. Mori et al., 1992). Dedicated cardiac care and stroke units offering timely and proactive therapy achieve better survival than conservative care (Seenan et al., 2007), although studies have shown that a considerable number of patients fail to receive high-quality, evidence-based care (Eagle et al., 2005).