by Dr Joseph Joseph, Clinical Associate Professor

On Thursday 15 June, a poster was presented at the annual European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) meeting, which was held in Madrid and attracted 14,000 delegates.

The authors – clinical faculty Dr J Joseph and students Ilianna Armata, Aria Antoniadou and Priya Maini – reported on public awareness in Cyprus regarding rheumatic diseases. This work was done in May 2016 when the School’s mobile clinic, in collaboration with the Cyprus patients’ association visited various cities during the rheumatology awareness week and collected data from the public. It became apparent during the collection and analysis stages that very few people could name more than one rheumatic disease, and rarely did people realise that these conditions can affect children. The diseases where people showed least awareness will form part of future awareness campaigns, helping to raise awareness of a group of conditions affecting one in three people in one way or another.