Two decades of patient advocacy in multiple sclerosis: The success story of the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform

Abstract

While some national patient self-help and advocacy groups in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS) are looking back on 50 or more years of history, the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform—today the voice of more than 700,000 people with MS gathered in 40 member organizations in 36 European countries—was only created in 1989. During the past 16 years of its active work, advocacy on health and social care policies has gained momentum, with the very first report by the European Parliament on the effects of discriminatory treatment towards persons with MS in 2003. This chapter describes hands-on experiences and gives examples of the value of cooperation between national and European levels in advocacy work for the benefit of people with MS for the past two decades.