Global MS organisations unite behind MS prevention

Working collaboratively to prevent MS

MS prevention is one of the most complex challenges in MS research. But it’s also incredibly promising. And we know it’s a top priority for people affected by MS.

In April MS organisations from the UK, Australia, Canada, Italy and the USA met in France. They agreed a joint position on MS prevention called the Nice Declaration.

The key points agreed were that:

• MS prevention isn't just a hope for the future, it's a realistic goal
• all the organisations are committed to making it happen

We know preventing MS will require international collaboration and the involvement of people affected by MS. We're working together and drawing on expertise from around the world. And by doing so, we hope to accelerate progress towards a future with no new cases of MS. 

A unified global effort

Dr Beth Grimsey, our Senior Research Programme Manager, attended the meeting. She said:

Everything I do, as someone both living with MS and working at the MS Society, comes back to one wish: that no one else has to experience a diagnosis of MS.

Witnessing the energy and enthusiasm at the meeting, it hit me that we have the collective power to make that happen. Two decades ago, we couldn't have dreamed we'd be realistically discussing prevention. Now, we have this powerful wave of momentum. We just need to channel it into one unified global effort.

Our prevention research

Prevention is a key focus in our new research strategy, which sets out our priorities for the next four years. We’re seizing momentum within the global research community so fewer people develop MS in the future.

In 2023, we founded the UK MS Prevention Taskforce. This brings together MS experts, people with MS, and researchers and clinicians from other conditions. We hope that together we can identify how to make progress towards MS prevention.

Based on this work, we funded Dr Alison Thomson’s project. This project aims to understand attitudes towards MS risk and prevention among people with MS and their close family members. And we’ll be sharing more news about the next steps of this work in the coming months.