The majority (83%) of countries worldwide have barriers that prevent early diagnosis of MS. Some of the common barriers that stand in the way of diagnosis include:

• Lack of public awareness of MS symptoms
• Lack of awareness of MS symptoms among healthcare professionals
• No healthcare professionals available with knowledge to diagnose MS
• People not taking diagnostic tests e.g. due to costs or travel limitations
• Specialist medical equipment or diagnostic tests are not available
• Bureaucracy, inefficiency, complexity in the health system
• Diagnosis is too expensive for a government or insurance provider to fund

Globally the most common barrier to getting an early diagnosis is a lack of awareness of MS
symptoms among the public and healthcare professionals. You can learn more about the barriers
to accessing an early MS diagnosis with the following resources.

• The Atlas of MS Clinical Management Report.

• MSIF page on Improving MS Diagnosis

• Neurology article | Global Barriers to the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis