Thanks to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis advocates, the World Health Organization (WHO) adds psoriasis to its agenda.
On Oct. 29, 2012, thousands of you helped the National Psoriasis Foundation “put psoriasis on the map” for World Psoriasis Day by adding your name to a world map, showing the global health challenge of psoriatic diseases. You submitted stories and pictures of yourself holding “Put psoriasis on the agenda now!” signs for the 2012 World Psoriasis Day campaign. Thanks to your efforts, the World Health Organization (WHO) has put psoriasis on its agenda to discuss at its next executive board meeting in May—a critical first step in getting global recognition for the 125 million people worldwide with psoriasis.
The International Federation of Psoriasis Associations (IFPA), a nonprofit organization of psoriasis associations around the world, and the National Psoriasis Foundation joined forces to ask the WHO to recognize October 29 as World Psoriasis Day. By getting psoriasis on the WHO’s agenda, our hope is that World Psoriasis Day will be recognized as a global health day.
World Psoriasis Day, held each year on October 29, is an international day of recognition for millions living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Conceived by patients for patients, World Psoriasis Day educates the public, medical community and policy makers about the seriousness of psoriatic diseases and aims to eliminate misconceptions about the disease.
As the WHO prepares to discuss psoriasis at its next meeting, IFPA, the National Psoriasis Foundation and other psoriasis associations around the world will reach out to their respective government agencies to let them know why recognition of World Psoriasis Day is so important.