Spotlight on Multiple Sclerosis: Fostering Greater Public Understanding and Patient Support

People's Daily Overseas Edition Dispatch (Chen De) On May 30, on the occasion of World MS Day, the Beijing Illness Challenge Foundation and Novartis China jointly initiated and hosted the "The Beauty of One in Ten Thousand" World MS Day public awareness event, aiming to raise public awareness and understanding of multiple sclerosis. Meanwhile, it calls on society to extend greater tolerance and understanding to patients, break down barriers, and provide them with equal opportunities for education and employment.

Wang Yi'ou, Secretary-General of the Beijing Pain Challenge Charity Foundation, stated: “Bringing greater ‘attention’ to patients with multiple sclerosis was our original intention in organizing this event. We hope that through such charity initiatives, we can continuously advocate for multiple sclerosis patients and raise public awareness of multiple sclerosis and other rare diseases.”

Multiple sclerosis is an immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system in which the patient's own immune system attacks the myelin sheath that protects nerve fibers, leading to neurological dysfunction, with a high incidence among young to middle-aged women aged 20 to 40.

Professor Zhou Hongyu from the Department of Neurology at West China Hospital, Sichuan University, stated: "Multiple sclerosis presents with diverse clinical manifestations. Symptoms vary among patients and across different disease stages, making it easily confused with other conditions. There is no specific diagnostic test for multiple sclerosis. A definitive diagnosis requires a comprehensive medical history, combined with laboratory and imaging studies, alongside the exclusion of other similar diseases. Due to insufficient awareness of the disease among patients and even primary care physicians, nearly 50% of patients have been misdiagnosed, with an average time to diagnosis reaching one year. Upon noticing symptoms such as visual impairment, mobility difficulties, slurred speech, or bowel and bladder incontinence, patients are advised to seek prompt medical evaluation at the Department of Neurology or a neuroimmunology specialty clinic in a qualified hospital."

“Although current treatment methods cannot completely cure the disease, several high-efficacy disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are already available in China to prevent disease relapses and delay disability progression,” said Professor Jiao Yujuan from the Department of Neurology at China-Japan Friendship Hospital. “Studies show that if high-efficacy DMT treatment is initiated early, patients can effectively coexist with the disease and maintain a high quality of work and life. With an increasing number of innovative drugs and therapies being approved for use in China, I believe more patients will be able to secure a fulfilling and wonderful life for themselves.”