Global Advocacy in Action

World Brain Day (WBD), this year celebrated on July 22, 2021, ushers in a major global advocacy campaign of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) extending over several months. The first WBD was held in 2014. Since then, WBD has become the largest global event for advocacy of brain health and awareness, with more than 50 million people joining the campaign annually.^1-3

Each WBD, the WFN partners with an organization from the Global Neurology Alliance to run a worldwide awareness and advocacy campaign on a chosen disease or area of interest. This year the theme is Stop Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and was presented in collaboration with the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF). Neurology: Clinical Practice (NCP) featured several articles related to MS in its August 2021 issue. The AAN is participating in a Twitter chat, and the AAN President Orly Avitzur, MD, MBA, FAAN, and CEO Mary E. Post, MBA, CAE, have created inspiring video messages on the importance of the day and the need for continued research.

An estimated 2.8 million people live with MS globally⁴ with increasing prevalence.⁵ MSIF launched the first part of the Atlas of MS (3rd edition), which highlights the wide disparities and barriers globally in accessing diagnosis, disease-modifying therapies, and care. More than three-quarters of countries worldwide face issues that prevent early MS diagnosis, while in 7 of 10 countries, people with MS face barriers in accessing effective disease-modifying therapies. How can we change this? The WBD 2021 Stop Multiple Sclerosis global campaign is an opportunity to mobilize our networks to advocate further on the key messages provided.

Key Messages

• Disability: MS is a debilitating neurologic disease that affects every aspect of a person's life, with effects ranging from cognitive impairment to significant physical disability.

• Prevalence: A total of 2.8 million people of all ages globally are affected by MS, and someone receives this life-altering diagnosis every 5 minutes.

• Education: We must work with health-care professionals to recognize the signs and symptoms of MS so that people can be diagnosed early and effectively treated.

• Access to Treatment: Disease-modifying treatments slow disease progression, dramatically improving the quality of life for those living with MS; yet access to these medications is cost-prohibitive and/or unavailable in many parts of the world.

• Advocacy: We can stop MS by diagnosing earlier, providing better access to life-changing treatments, and advocating for improving the quality of life for those living with MS and their caregivers.

We invite and encourage the NCP readers and AAN members to visit the WBD2021 toolbox, download the contents, share them among their networks, and join the passionate social media campaign to stop MS.

Study Funding

The authors report no targeted funding.

Disclosure

The authors report no disclosures relevant to the manuscript. Full disclosure form information provided by the authors is available with the full text of this article at Neurology.org/cp.