Representatives of MS organisations from around the world will gather together for the MS International Federation’s Global Networking Meetings in Amsterdam. The meetings, which will be held on 11-13 April 2018, will be hosted by Stichting MS Research.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will join delegates on 12 April, during a visit to the world-leading MS Expertise Centre at Nieuw Unicum in the Dutch town, Zandvoort. Nieuw Unicum is an innovative multidisciplinary care institution that offers support and treatment to a large group of 140 permanent residents who are in the later progressive phases of MS. The Centre also supports a further 250 people with MS who live at home. Delegates will have the opportunity to learn about a number of successful interventions that have been developed at the MS Expertise Centre.

The meetings will culminate in the ‘Bringing us Closer’ dinner, where Olympic medal speed skaters Ronald and Michel Mulder – the Stichting MS Research’s ambassadors – will be joining delegates. During the dinner, the winner of the Global MS Research Booster Award will be announced. The award, which is provided by Stichting MS Research and the MS International Federation, with financial support from the Dutch MS fundraising charity MoveS, funds a two-year research project into the underlying causes of multiple sclerosis.

The global MSIF movement meets twice a year, bringing together staff, volunteers and people with and affected by MS from national MS organisations to discuss the opportunities and challenges they face in their daily practice. These meetings form a key part of a strategy to bring the world together to improve the quality of life of everybody affected by MS and to end MS forever. Members of the global MSIF movement believe that this can achieved faster and better through working together than if everyone works alone.