Presentation 

Macedonian Osteoporosis Association

Mission for osteoporosis prevention and therapy The Macedonian Osteoporosis Association from Skopje is a non-governmental and non-profitable association, registered in 2000.
“Our vision, as an association, is Macedonia to be a country without any osteoporosis. Our mission is to motivate women to take actions for osteoporosis prevention and therapy. With a reference from IOF we have reregistered the association, thus dividing it in two departments: a medical department (projects and researches) and a patients’ department which will also be responsible for communication with the public and expressing patients’ opinion”, said associate professor Dr. Snezana Markovik – Temelkova, the president of MOA.

As a medical department, the MOA plans for the following three years are: to implement lecturing and education for the interested groups of patients and subjects around the towns in Macedonia; to be present in the media in order to inform the public on the dangers osteoporosis brings – its prevention and therapy; to educate the medicine personnel for prompt recognizing, diagnosis and proper treatment of the disease; to raise initiatives for passing laws and regulations for women protection in and around menopause as a basic reason for osteoporosis; to run projects related to osteoporosis; to form centers for osteoporosis and to link them, in order to provide punctual information distribution from the sphere of osteoporosis, as well as for simpler running the projects; creating database in relation to the price of direct and indirect consequences from osteoporosis, the degree of invalidism and lethality it brings.   

“Since the very registering of the organization, we have been accepted as accompanying members of IOF (International Osteoporosis Foundation) whose headquarters are in Switzerland and the main patron is the Queen Renia from Jordan”, said Markovik – Temelkova. IOF has 176 countries all over the world as its members. “In April 2000 we became regular members of IOF with all rights and obligations such membership carries”, added the president of the Organization.

Osteoporosis is a system skeletal disease characterized of low bone density, micro-architectural changes and tendency to break bones easily. It strikes over 75 million people all over the world (1:2 in proportion to women and 1:8 in proportion to men). Over 3,5 billion Euro is annually spent in Europe on treating the consequences from osteoporosis. Only 20% of the women with osteoporosis receive an adequate therapy.

 

D.M.