An estimated 10,000 people live in Belarus with MS, many in shocking conditions of isolation. By comparison to other European countries, the negative impact of health and social policies is most evident here.
Overall conditions for access to treatment and services are unfavorable. Extremely low per capita income plays an important role as MS patients cannot afford the costly disease-modifying drugs, hence advanced disability at younger ages is more evident in Belarus than in other countries. Few are able to keep their jobs, so there is a very low number of full-time employees and only a slightly higher figure of part-time workers.
