OBJECTIVES

: A rare disease is defined as a disease which affects less than 5 in 10.000 people. However, as there are more than 6.000 rare diseases, they still affect more than 30 million Europeans. These patients often face a path that leads to disability as there is not always a pharmacological therapy available.

We aimed to assess to knowledge, attitudes and perception of medical students concerning rare diseases in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

METHODS

: In a cross-sectional study students from the first four years of medical school at Sarajevo School of Science and Technology were questioned about their awareness regarding rare diseases. An online survey was performed with a questionnaire that included 28 questions using Google documents.

RESULTS

: Across the four years of medical studies only 60.00% estimated the prevalence of rare diseases correctly with most of them currently studying in the fourth year. The possibilities of obtaining drugs for rare diseases in Bosnia and Herzegovina were rated poor or very poorly by 80.00% of the students that answered the survey. Both lack of appropriate quality healthcare and high prices of drugs were rated as the most important problems that patients suffer from by 73.33% of students. Lack of observance of legislation was the least important problem as only 13.33% of students listed it as a source of suffering for the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

: These results show that knowledge and attitudes of medical students are lacking and improvement would be advisable. This could be archived by focusing a part of the internal medicine on rare diseases and their treatment. Otherwise it would be an option to give interested students the possibility of picking an elective course that targets rare diseases.