Suffering in silence: Assessing rare disease awareness and management in Asia-Pacific
Background:
The collective challenge of rare diseases has risen up the policy agenda in both the Asia-Pacific region and globally. Various new and revised health and social system measures in Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan—along with the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Rare Disease Action Plan—reflect a growing recognition of the need to act.
In November-December 2019, The Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 503 healthcare professionals across five Asia-Pacific markets to gauge their understanding of rare diseases and identify the challenges faced by national health systems.