Sudan Mandates STOP THE BLEED Training for Drivers

The ACS STOP THE BLEED^® (STB) program, which empowers members of the lay public to save lives in a bleeding control emergency through education and training, has been a remarkable success. 

More than 2.4 million individuals around the world have been trained to date, and STB currently has more than 100,000 instructors in 135 countries. 

As the importance of bleeding control principles spreads, some cities, states, and even countries are taking steps to increase access to STB kits and make training mandatory to improve public health. This includes Sudan, where trauma advocates have worked with the government to require STB training for any individual applying for a driver’s license.

According to Dia Ageib, MD, a trauma surgeon in Sudan who initiated the Advanced Trauma Life Support Program^® (ATLS^®) in his country, he and a group of advocates were able to work through the challenges of government instability and initiate the training requirement in October 2022. Now, everyone who applies for a driver’s license must attend a STB course before taking the driving test. This training initiative in Sudan marks the first time that a country has required STB training as part of driver education.

For now, the course is being taught by ATLS instructors until the police department is adequately trained in the course and ready to teach. Sudan’s Code Blue Medical Training Center, the country’s ATLS headquarters in Khartoum, is providing the necessary equipment and instructors free of charge. 

STB training also has been rolled out to several major corporations including Amazon, Tesla, and Verizon.