LAUSR

Background To support countries in their national efforts, the WHO developed a Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013–2020, which included cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.1 Although rheumatic or musculoskeletal diseases were not considered by the WHO, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) of Switzerland included them within the National Strategy for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD strategy).2 This valuable national strategy and the corresponding action plan focus mainly on primary and secondary prevention with the aim to prevent diseases before their occurrence and to decrease associated risk factors. As a consequence, numerous organisations started to prepare disease-specific national strategies with focus on tertiary prevention and the main intention of supporting people with chronic illness. Objectives The objective of this project of the Swiss League against Rheumatism was to develop the Swiss National Strategy ‘Musculoskeletal Diseases’ 2017–2022. The strategy focused on patients affected by a rheumatic disease in order to complete the objectives that had already been undertaken by the Swiss government. Methods The structure of the Swiss League against Rheumatism (non-profit organisation) required a streamlined process. The theoretical framework, as part one in a two-part strategy, was developed from scientific literature. For the second part of the strategy, the identification of different measures in various fields of action, an expert group with advisory role was built in September 2015. This expert group was composed of different organisations: the Federal Office of Public Health, the Swiss Conference of the Regional Directors of Health Care, the Swiss Society of Rheumatologists, the Swiss Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, the Swiss Association of Physiotherapy, the Swiss Association of Occupational Therapy and the Swiss League against Rheumatism. Several interviews were conducted with experts from those and other organisations to determine the need for action in the field of musculoskeletal diseases for the upcoming six years. In summer 2016 the various recommendations of possible measures were prioritised. Results In summer 2017 as a result of this process, the Swiss League against Rheumatism was able to present the National Strategy ‘Musculoskeletal Diseases’ 2017–2022 with various measures grouped in the categories of ‘prevention and early detection’, ‘care’ and ‘research and education’.3 Conclusions Using this approach, a national strategy was developed with a reasonable amount of personal and financial resources. The current challenge of the implementation process is to motivate the involved organisations to realise specific measures on their own or in collaboration. These measures enable a better support of persons with musculoskeletal conditions during the full course of their disease. References [1] WHO (2013). Global action plan for the prevention and control of NCDs 2013–2020. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/nmh/publications/ncd-action-plan/en/ [2] BAG (2016). National strategy for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases (NCD strategy). Retrieved from http://www.bag.admin.ch [3] Swiss League against Rheumatism (2017). National Strategy ‘Musculoskeletal Diseases’ 2017–2022. Retrieved from http://www.rheumaliga.ch Disclosure of Interest None declared