2023-07-02 19:00:00
Member of the Board of Directors of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Executive Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at the Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center, Dr. Fatima Al Kaabi, revealed that there are 65 cases of “multiple sclerosis” among every 100,000 people in the UAE, indicating that the incidence of females is higher than that of females. in males three times as much.
The disease is diagnosed at an early stage of youth between the ages of 20 and 40 years.
In detail, Dr. Fatima Al-Kaabi confirmed to Emirates Today that international research and studies indicated that more than 2.8 million people around the world suffer from multiple sclerosis (affects the brain and spinal cord). It is believed that the actual number of infected people is twice that number.
She said, “Statistics have shown that the infection rate among females is three times higher than that of males. She explained that its symptoms are unpredictable and often cause physical and emotional challenges for sufferers.
Multiple sclerosis is defined as affecting the central nervous system and disrupting the flow of information within the brain. It usually affects adults at an early age, causing a wide range of varying symptoms that appear at any time and affect sufferers to varying degrees and in different forms, it may be temporary or permanent. These include numbness, tingling, mood swings, memory problems, pain, fatigue, blindness, paralysis, and others.
Al-Kaabi confirmed the prevalence of multiple sclerosis at a rate of 65 cases per 100,000 people in the UAE, according to the estimation of most experts. Therefore, efforts were combined and the state quickly established the National Multiple Sclerosis Society last April as a non-governmental organization, with the aim of enabling patients with it to lead a better life. Through awareness, assistance and advanced global efforts to find a cure for it.
Research grants
She stressed that the establishment of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society reflects the state’s keenness to raise awareness and consolidate the concept of the importance of early diagnosis and treatment for it, as the Society seeks to consolidate its position as a scientific partner and researcher for international organizations working in the field of multiple sclerosis.
Two million dirhams have been allocated to support research grants that will be shared with local and international researchers to provide innovative treatments and achieve a better understanding of multiple sclerosis in the UAE, and its most prominent characteristics and symptoms that affect people with it.
national record
Al Kaabi revealed the launch of the first national multiple sclerosis registry that was developed in cooperation with the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Center for Public Health, and the G42 company, to be the main platform for multiple sclerosis at the regional level, and a pivotal step that enables researchers and doctors in the emirate to provide advanced and personalized treatment plans. For patients, as it includes all data of patients and health care providers, and aims to monitor and report clinical results, which will advance future research on the disease, develop the health care model, clinical care pathways, and the patient’s journey.
initiatives
Al-Kaabi affirmed the association’s keenness, since its establishment at the beginning of this year, to launch a number of initiatives targeting people with multiple sclerosis who were recently diagnosed, in the context of enhancing awareness of the disease and facilitating communication with the association to provide support services for them, which would contribute to developing solutions to enable Patients with the disease to lead a better life.
These initiatives included a series of panel discussions under the name “MS Circles” with people living with the disease, and the launch of the virtual program “Your Journey towards Treatment and Recovery from Disease” that targets people who have recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, in addition to the association’s keenness on the digital presence on the communication channels. Social and website, which is a comprehensive platform that provides all information about multiple sclerosis.
It also seeks to organize a number of additional programs that will be announced later, including the volunteer initiative, which will provide an opportunity for members of the UAE community to support the multiple sclerosis community.
She pointed out that the pivotal role of the association’s work in the next stage lies mainly in enabling people with multiple sclerosis to practice their lives better, as it adopts the slogan “Our stories are many, and our determination is one,” in addition to building an integrated system to support them in the UAE by listening to their needs and the challenges they face, and contribute to the development of local and global research efforts to find a cure for the disease, and to discuss the best ways to deal with it.
It is worth noting that researchers believe that multiple sclerosis is not directly classified as an infectious or genetic disease. At the same time, epidemiologists noted that people with multiple sclerosis contracted the Epstein-Barr virus during their lifetime. There are four general types of MS, including: isolated clinical syndrome, relapsing MS, secondary progressive MS, and primary progressive MS. The risk of developing multiple sclerosis is higher for people who have a family member who suffers from it, and it is not classified as a genetic disease.
There is also a 2% chance that symptoms will appear in a child of parents, one of whom has multiple sclerosis.
6 research areas
Dr. Fatima Al-Kaabi stated that the association supports research in six areas, as a priority, including: the development of innovative and emerging therapies that can slow, stop or reverse multiple sclerosis, identification of clinical characteristics, and research in epidemiology to determine the incidence and prevalence of the disease in the UAE Understanding the role of genetics in multiple sclerosis in the UAE and the world, detecting suspected risk factors for developing multiple sclerosis in the country’s population, and knowing the effectiveness and impact of certain treatments in the population, including:
(New treatments in clinical trials, clinically and radiologically isolated treatments for the syndrome, disease-modifying therapies, the impact of “Covid-19” and pregnancy, in addition to examining ways to reach treatment in the UAE, the Middle East and North Africa region, and the world at large).
Disease management
Dr. Fatima Al-Kaabi stressed that multiple sclerosis does not significantly affect the practice of life normally, because most of those affected live their lives with some lifestyle adjustments, including healthy nutrition and exercise, noting that the physical and emotional impact of a multiple sclerosis diagnosis must be adapted.
She added: «The disease may affect the ability of patients to work, with the addition of costs related to medical care, rehabilitation, home modifications and others, especially with the absence of a treatment currently, as the management of the disease currently includes drug treatments for acute inflammatory attacks or relapses, and drugs that reduce the risk of infection. More inflammatory relapses that are disease-modifying therapies, as well as therapies to slow disease progression. There are also treatments that relieve and improve various symptoms. Successful management of multiple sclerosis includes a healthy diet, exercise and rehabilitation.”
• 2 million dirhams to support research grants related to multiple sclerosis.
• “Epidemiologists noticed that patients with multiple sclerosis were infected with the (Epstein-Barr) virus.”
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