Category: IMAS

 

Read the report on our new IMAS webpages, where you can discover the results from survey participants in 27 countries, shining a light on the burden of living with axSpA.  The report includes calls to action for healthcare professionals and policymakers, which target better public and professional understanding of axSpA, so that people with symptoms get an accurate diagnosis with minimal delay and the ongoing support and care they need.   

Webinar, 13 March

To showcase the report and discuss what the evidence and calls to action mean for patients and patient organisations, we are holding a webinar on 13 March (12:00 to 13:30 GMT).  As well as highlighting some of the key results from the report, we will hear clinician and patient organisation perspectives on how IMAS can be used as a tool for change.  Please email Jo Lowe to confirm your attendance. 

Spotlight on IMAS event, 11 June

A celebratory event will take place in Vienna, the evening before the EULAR congress commences. The event, on Tuesday 11 June (18:30-21:30 CET), will bring together our members, industry partners, rheumatologists, HCPs, and other key stakeholders.  It will be an opportunity to celebrate the success of IMAS so far, its transition to ASIF and the patient community; and to share our plans for the future. Please contact Jo Lowe to secure your place.  

 

Next month ASIF will launch its International Map of Axial Spondyloarthritis (IMAS) report, The burden of axial spondyloarthritis: a global patient perspective. The report demonstrates the challenges of living with axSpA – from getting a timely diagnosis to the health and socioeconomic impacts.  A core aim of IMAS is to incorporate the patient perspective and experience into healthcare policy and into decisions about axSpA care.  To support this, the report contains calls to action, aimed at healthcare professionals and policymakers.  These include ensuring the needs of axSpA patients are fully understood, that a multidisciplinary approach is taken to care and that healthcare professionals are better equipped to recognise the signs and symptoms of axSpA.  

The report will be an invaluable advocacy tool for our members and is an essential read for anyone interested in the impact of axSpA. Using IMAS results, we underline the real-life burden of axSpA on both an individual’s life, and on healthcare utilisation. 

In the lead up to the publication of the Report, ASIF continues to spread the word about the reality of living with the disease.  Our abstract and presentation at this year’s EULAR congress demonstrated how axSpA can affect almost every area of a person’s life and highlighted numerous unmet needs of those living with the disease. 

In November, we presented a poster on the IMAS findings and forthcoming global report at the Galapagos Patient Partnership Day and the EULAR PARE Best Practice Fair.  Both events gave ASIF the opportunity to share the IMAS project with other patient organisations and to demonstrate how we can use the evidence gathered through IMAS to advocate for change.

We will continue to disseminate the important results from IMAS; we are busy working with the IMAS scientific committee to prepare five new IMAS abstracts for submission to EULAR 2024.  

To coincide with the report publication, new webpages highlighting IMAS’ key findings will be published on the ASIF website, providing a fascinating deep dive into the data.  Additional materials, including an advocacy toolkit and infographic showing the key IMAS findings, have also been created to support our members’ work. These resources will be available in January.  

Read more about IMAS.