Word from the chairman

Osteoarthritis affects us all! 

 
By 2050, 315 million individuals over the age of 60 will suffer from osteoarthritis, including 100 million that will have a severe disability related to this disease.

Osteoarthritis is a joint disease, but also a risk factor for many other diseases associated with aging, such as type II diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. It is therefore a complex, disabling disease with significant socio-economic repercussions. It will need to be well taken care of in order to reduce its impact on society.

Ensuring a proper treatment of osteoarthritis means improving the quality of life of the elderly! It is time to take action so that this disease is better considered by health professionals, but also by the public authorities.

We must fight against misconceptions and harmful beliefs. Osteoarthritis is an old person’s disease; there is nothing we can do about it. False! Many patients think that physical activity is bad for their joints. False! Osteoarthritis is a fatality. False again!

As of now, the management of patients with osteoarthritis is still insufficient and inadequate. Comprehensive and multidisciplinary care that incorporates recent knowledge of osteoarthritis is necessary. In addition, funding for basic research dedicated to this disease is insufficient in Belgium. Researchers need to be given more resources to help them better understand osteoarthritis, to diagnose it earlier and to develop effective treatments.

For all these reasons we established the Osteoarthritis Foundation in July 2015. We want to support basic research on this disease that affects us all. Concretely, we will award prizes to meritorious researchers and fund original research projects as well as trips abroad for researchers. We will organize information and awareness campaigns in order to prevent osteoarthritis and thus reduce the disability it causes. We will not only inform patients, but also physicians about recent discoveries, including scientific findings. We also plan to advocate for patients’ interests before the relevant health authorities.
 

Join us in this adventure!

Pr Yves Henrotin
Osteoarthritis patient
Chairman of the Osteoarthritis Foundation


Translated from French by G. Johnen, 1st year Master's student in translation at the ULg