Highlights from 2014

For 2014, the World MS Day theme was access – not just physical access, but also access to drugs, information and treatment, and the same social and economic opportunities as everyone else.

We asked people to think about barriers to access in their life and to make a wish for something that would help overcome those barriers. As a way of focusing on the many issues around access the campaign used the tagline ‘One day.’

• 79 per cent of MS International Federation members and supporting organisations, from 77 countries, took part
• There were 35,000 visitors to the campaign website
• We reached more than 18m people on Twitter
• There were nearly 4m World MS Day post views on Facebook

Among the activities in 77 countries:

Volunteers from the Japan MS Society took to the streets of downtown Tokyo to raise awareness of MS. They handed out pamphlets and pens with information about MS to over 5000 passers-by. The volunteers were equipped with World MS Day banners and bright tropical pink T-shirts.

Esclerosis Múltiple Argentina held a free informational meeting on World MS Day. Health professionals provided information about patient rights, access and social benefits for people with MS. They also ran a social media campaign to emphasise the importance of talking about MS. They reached lots of people with the help of celebrity supporters and a sustained media campaign on TV and radio.