- 1973: In 1973, “Social Leagues” – which were the patient organizations – officially joined the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR)EULAR is the organization that represents people with arthritis/rheumatism, health professionals (HPR), and scientific societies of rheumatology of all the European nations. The aims of EULAR are to reduce the burden of rheumatic diseases on the individual and society and to improve the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal diseases. To this end, EULAR fosters excellence in education and research in the field of rheumatology. It promotes the translation of research advances into daily care and fights for the recognition of the needs of people with musculoskeletal diseases by the governing bodies in Europe. As such, they have always had their own educational program at the annual EULAR Congress meeting, but in the earlier years, the symposia they organized was mostly independent of the other congress sessions. eular.org which is now the European League Against Rheumatism.
- 1991: The EULAR Congress in Budapest marks a change in the goal to implement more comprehensive programs organized by the Social Leagues, including more collaboration with health professionals.
It was not until 2008, after the EULAR Congress in Paris, where patient organizations merged into EULAR, becoming EULAR PARE (People with Arthritis/Rheumatism in Europe)EULAR PARE is the Committee within EULAR comprised of representatives and musculoskeletal user groups around Europe to work together towards improving the quality of life for people in Europe living with these conditions, with the vision to empower and help them lead full and independent lives.
www.eular.org/pare.cfm
For decades, EULAR PARE has featured patient posters dedicated to education and advocacy, and later an increasing number of abstracts and program sessions on collaborative research.
CoPI: Conference participant
Context: Poster presentation