• About
  • Priorities
  • Events
  • Press Room
  • Publications
  • hEOR
  • Consultancy
Galen CentreGalen CentreGalen CentreGalen Centre
Menu
  • Priorities
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Press Room
  • Consultancy
  • hEOR
  • About
Menu
Non-Communicable Diseases

White Paper: Psoriasis – Lifting The Burden Of Stigma & Changing Lives

29 December 2020

Share this post

With sufficient resources and investment to manage psoriasis, suffering and stigma can be reduced, and lives changed for the better.

POLICY FOR ACTION 5/2020

Winnie Ong, Azrul Mohd Khalib

Abstract

Psoriasis is commonly described as a skin condition. However, research into psoriasis has discovered that it is a chronic and complex immune-mediated disease. The complications of psoriatic arthritis, cardiovascular disease, psychosocial disorders and other co-morbidities clearly show that damage extends beyond visible skin.

Despite recognition by the World Health Organisation as a chronic condition, getting appropriate care and treatment for people with psoriasis remains challenging. Due to inaccurate diagnosis, gaps in health services, and unmet treatment needs, patients face a lifetime of suffering and disability.

By 2017, the Malaysian Psoriasis Registry (MPR) captured an epidemiological picture of over 17,000 adults and children with psoriasis from 25 dermatology outpatient clinics, where more than one in four patients reported severe impairment of quality of life. The total number registered has now risen to more than 24,000.

It is critical that awareness and recognition of psoriasis as a serious medical condition that can significantly impact a person’s quality of life, is emphasised among healthcare professionals, particularly those at the primary care level.

Doing so will enable people with psoriasis to be diagnosed early and provided with the necessary care. Receiving quality, timely and effective treatment reduces the individual burden and wider economic impact of the disease.

However, management of this condition today is challenged by funding which falls short of ensuring access for all who are eligible for optimal treatment, particularly those deemed to be at a serious stage of their disease. People are being left behind.

With sufficient resources and investment to provide adequate access to manage psoriasis and its comorbidities, especially for patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, suffering and stigma can be reduced, and lives changed for the better.

The long-term objective for Malaysia contained within this Psoriasis White Paper should be to develop a model of patient-centered, coordinated care which ensures the delivery of comprehensive, individually adapted treatment for people with psoriasis over their lifetime.

Recent Posts

  • Dewan Rakyat Approval of Special Select Committee On Health Welcomed
  • 100 Days of Unity Government: B Grade for Health
  • Pharmaniaga Situation – Opportunity For Pharmaceutical Procurement Reform
  • Contact Us
  • Press Room
  • Partners and clients
  • Projects
  • CodeBlue and Ova
  • Jobs & internships opportunities
  • Policies
Social Health Analytics Sdn Bhd (1239011-M)
C-13A-12, Scott Garden SOHO
58000 Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA
T: +603 7972 2566
E: [email protected]

© 2022 Galen Centre, All Rights Reserved | Social Health Analytics Sdn Bhd (1239011-M)