MS organisations and health professionals gather in Dubai for MENACTRIMS 2017

After the success of their joint meeting at the Middle East and North Africa Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (MENACTRIMS) 2016 Congress, last month MSIF and MENACTRIMS came together once again in Dubai, UAE.

MENACTRIMS 2017 saw more than 900 health professionals and MS organisation representatives from 38 countries attend the 3-day event, which featured such key topics as the new 2017 McDonald Criteria, MS and pregnancy, MRI and MS, and new strategies in MS therapy.

MSIF’s joint session was attended by representatives from 23 organisations in 13 Arab countries as well as health professionals from the region. It provided MSIF with a platform to introduce our new Global Strategy and inform delegates about the recently launched Seven Principles to Improve Quality of Life with MS. Delegates were given an overview of the key research updates from the Congress, an insight into improving cooperation between physicians and people with MS-led organisations as well as guidance on fundraising for MS organisations in the region.

MSIF workshop

On 26 November, MSIF organised a regional workshop during which MS organisations’ volunteers/staff participated in interactive training on awareness-raising campaigning, generating ideas around which a joint, regional campaign could be built and developed.

The workshop was a fantastic opportunity for MS organisations in the Arab region to learn from one another by displaying their previous awareness raising work through a walking gallery.

One delegate reflected, “this workshop gave us an opportunity to share with other organisations our experiences and ideas in raising awareness campaigns and taking advantage of all the tools that we used.”

“In addition, we acquired new ideas and concepts that we did not know before. The workshop was very informative in terms of how to initiate, organize and prioritize a campaign and the outcomes expected from the campaign.”