complications require action by governments and policymakers. Furthermore, scientists, health professionals and the associations uniting them have an important role to play in improving the QoL of people suffering from psoriasis. Patients’ organizations, civil society and the media are crucial in advocating for change and helping fight stigma and ignorance. Actions for governments and policy-makers n Member States should ensure that people suffering from psoriasis have access to professional medical care. It is essential that psoriasis is diagnosed as early as possible. Early diagnosis and appropriate therapy gives the best chance to prevent patients from unnecessary suffering, uncontrolled disease, irreversible deformities of the joints and disability. Optimum therapy also reduces mental health and societal costs of the disease. n Patients suffering from psoriasis should have access to comprehensive, individually adapted treatment. At a minimum, public and private facilities should provide the drugs included on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, including systemic therapies. Universal health coverage schemes should cover the costs of these treatments For newer biological therapies, more needs to be done to reduce the price of these medicines, if they are to present a sustainable and affordable treatment option for patients with psoriasis. The development of biosimilars may help in this regard. Governments should take cost-effectiveness of treatment options into account when developing national guidelines. n Optimum treatment of psoriasis, and its comorbidities, require shifting to a model of people-centred and integrated health services, as outlined in the WHO global strategy on people-centred and integrated health services. All people with psoriasis should have access to health services that are provided in a way that responds to their preferences, are coordinated around their needs and are safe, effective, timely, efficient and of an acceptable quality. This is essential not just to improve the lives of people with psoriasis, but also for all other chronic complex conditions. n Governments and nongovernmental organizations should provideeducation on common chronic skin conditions to health-care professionals, including undergraduate medical and nursing curricula and inservice training for physicians in primary care. There is a great need to raise awareness and knowledge about psoriasis among general practitioners to increase early diagnosis and prevent disability. Governments also have a role in supporting psoriasis research. n Governments have a key role in reducing stigma and discrimination. Society, not psoriasis, causes the exclusion and discrimination faced by people with this disease. This situation can change through campaigns to raise awareness of psoriasis among the population and by condemning discrimination of patients who suffer from it. Active steps by Member States include anti-discrimination legislation and enforcement of existing legislation. Global report on psoriasis 34 Actions for health systems and health professionals n All health professionals, especially clinicians working in primary health care, should be aware of psoriasis, its management and its co-morbidities. Health care professionals’ associations should provide training, for example, via the Internet for physicians from low- and middle-income countries, regarding prompt diagnosis and effective treatment of psoriasis. Patients with psoriasis need access to primary health care that responds to their individual needs and coordinates with any additional specialist care. n In settings with adequate resources, health-care professionals and health systems must strive to provide patients with comprehensive care from multidisciplinary teams of specialists, including dermatologists, rheumatologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, paediatricians, cardiologists and others. Clinicians must inform patients about the possible consequences of the disease and collaborate with them to identify barriers to adherence and help address these barriers to achieve optimal management. n Associations of medical specialists have a role in seeking consensus on the classification of psoriasis and standardization