fetching data ... 
Background: Chile, with 20 million inhabitants, faces some of the common Latin American problems: the country has one rheumatologist for every 84,000 people [1], most of them concentrated in the central area of the country [2]. Official data for Chile from 2024 indicate that there are 108,000 patients with RA, 23,000 patients with SLE and more than 4,000 patients with JIA from the public (FONASA) and private (ISAPRES) insurance system [3], but not from the armed forces system (about 2-5% of the total population), being the only rheumatic diseases covered by insurances. In addition, since 2015 certain biological drugs are reimbursed [4]. The Chilean Network of Rheumatic Patients is made up of 9 RMD Patient Organizations, working together since 2019 to create a new source of education and empowerment for patients and advocate for the unmet needs of patients [5].
Objectives: The main objectives with this activity were to advertise our work and create a public forum to show and share it with specific stakeholders: academics, physicians, pharmaceutical managers, decision makers, politicians and nurses.
Methods: During 2023 the Chilean Network of Rheumatic Patients made several webinars and also activities in different cities of the country, holding meetings with politicians, directors of different hospitals and other local health authorities.
With all the information and concerns gathered, we set out to create a public forum that would be the cornerstone of a common diagnosis and planned work to develop solutions to the unmet needs of our patients. In July 2024, we began to coordinate our first Public Forum, which was held on October 22 in Santiago, Chile. The main focus of the people to whom the invitation was sent were doctors, nurses, pharmaceutical managers, and politicians and decision-makers.
Results: We had over 60 attendees and we held two roundtables talking about Public Health and Management of the RMDs in Chile. The first roundtable on Public Health and RMDs was attended by Dr. Juan Luis Castro, Member of the Senate, Dr. Tomás Lagomarsino, Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Dr. Emilio Santelices, Former Minister of Health, Carolina Velasco, Economist and Academic Researcher, and Mariela Formas, Vice President of the Innovative Pharmaceutical Chamber of Chile. The second round table talking about Management of RMDs was attended by Dr. Alejandra Álvarez, President of the Chilean Society of Rheumatology, Nancy Vásquez, Rheumatic Nurse at a Private Center, Dr. Rubén Gennero, Manager of a Private Health Center, and Gonzalo Tobar Carrizo, Representative of Chilean Network of Rheumatic Patients. The activity also included the participation of a representative from the Ministry of Health and a keynote speech by José Martín, Vice President of Open Reuma and a rheumatic nurse from the Hospital Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria in Tenerife, Spain to talk about the role of the nurse in the treatment of rheumatic patients and how can they be part of one of the solutions for the lack of specialists we face. At the activity we were also able to share that we have one PRP and one ParticiPaciente [6], available to be involved in research as a partner. After this public forum, we have been invited to carry out activities with RMDs patients in different hospitals scheduled for this year in several cities in the country. We made a commitment to promote rheumatology nurses as a public health strategy and work with the Chilean Society of Rheumatology to do so.
Conclusion: In a country with a lack of specialists, the role of the patient organizations is key to involve different stakeholders in the search for solutions to the unmet needs of our patients, not only by demanding solutions: by proposing and being part of the solutions. Sowing and sharing our work to new stakeholders was a success.
REFERENCES: [1] Fernández-Ávila, D.G., Patino-Hernandez, D., Kowalskii, S. et al. Current status of the rheumatologists’ workforce in Latin America: a PANLAR collaborative study. Clin Rheumatol 40, 2913–2920 (2021).
[2] Chilean Society of Rheumatology, Find your Rheumatologist,
[3] Superintendencia de Salud, Estadística Trimestral de Casos GES (AUGE) de Fonasa y Sistema Isapre – a junio 2024
[4] Etanercept or Abatacept or Adalimumab or Golimumab or Tocilizumab or Tofacitinib or Upadacitinib or Baricitinib or Rituximab for RA; Golimumab or Etanercept or Adalimumab or Secukinumab for PA; and Belimumab for SLE.
[5] Chilean Network of Rheumatic Patients 2023 activities: how IPARE inspired our work. Patient information and education, Best practices, Geographical differences, oral presentation.
[6] Gonzalo Tobar Carrizo passed the 1st Online Eurlar PRP course, and Elena Rocuant passed the 1st ParticiPaciente online course, by OpenReuma.
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the office of the undersecretary of Public Health of the Ministry of Health and the speakers and the attendees of our Public Forum.
Disclosure of Interests: Gonzalo Tobar Carrizo From 2020 to 2022 was consultant for Idorsia in the Lupus Pacient Council, Carmen Daniela González Quintana: None declared, Elena Rocuant: None declared, Ruth Atenas: None declared, Cristian Quijada: None declared.
© The Authors 2025. This abstract is an open access article published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases under the CC BY-NC-ND license (