This year the theme for World Arthritis Day is the small things that matter for people with arthritis/rheumatism - those everyday challenges around the home, when travelling, shopping or at school, college or in the workplace.
In 2007 we would like to highlight these challenges and how policy makers, health providers, planners and designers might help reduce them.
Many of you may also have found simple but innovative ways of overcoming your challenges and we would like you to be able to share these with others who can benefit.
We have a number of exciting projects planned to help YOU raise awareness of the small things that matter to people with arthritis/rheumatism and some of the ways in which these could be overcome.
Two of these exciting new World Arthritis Day projects have been piloted and were launched at the European Leagues Against Rheumatism (EULAR) congress, a personalised Health Passport to help you and your doctor make the most of your consultations and Video Diaries, where PARE Manifesto/EULAR Social Leagues are able to produce short campaigning films made by people with arthritis talking about their personal challenges.
Online survey
To help us identify and highlight the small things that matter to people with arthritis, we have designed an on-line survey with the results to be publicised on World Arthritis Day.
In order to maximise results across Europe, the survey has been translated into several languages and can be accessed here
The results of the survey will be used to produce a template WAD media news release that all PARE Manifesto/EULAR Social Leagues can adapt and use in their own countries, as well as a poster that can be displayed at World Arthritis Day events. These will be available from the WAD website.
Please encourage your friends and colleagues to fill in the survey to help us demonstrate to key decision makers that ‘small things matter’ to people with arthritis.
Please watch this space for more news on these and other 2007 World Arthritis Day projects.
In the near future we will be ready to start collecting your plans for your national World Arthritis Day activities to post under your country flag. We ask you to provide a short description in your own language with a brief summary in English: secretariat@paremanifesto.org
