16th December2021 The United Nations General Assembly voted the First Reloution for People Living With a Rare Disorder

After a first adoption by consensus in November, the final text became an official United Nations Resolution with the vote during the General Assembly on 16th December.

Rare Disease International, together with Eurordis and the Non Governemental Organisations (NGO) Committee for Rare Disorders advocated relentlessly with United Nations members to elaborate the resolution “Addressing the Challenges of Persons Living with a Rare Disorder and their Families”. This hard work  has now been rewarded.

and elsewhere

Australia :  Government is funding the « RArEST » initiative for 3 years with an amount of $ (AUD)  1.9 million. This initiative is led by Universities and the Federation « Rare Voices Australia », to improve Education, Support and Training courses for Rare Diseases . (©Orphanews 16^th  November 2021)

The UN calls on France to completely change its idea of disability. They especially tackle  too « medical » approach and « systematic » institutionalisation. (© Hospimédia)

Ratification of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) Treaty. One of its priorities will be to act against sub-standard and fake medicines.

And also, the First African Summit on Rare Diseases was held in Accra (Ghana) on 1-3 December. The main theme was to engage in a dialogue between all stakeholders in the national and regional rare disease eco-system in Africa. (©Orphanews 2^nd December 2021)

In the USA : Establishment of 31 Centres of Excellence for Rare Disorders. They will cover several specialties and provide rare disease patient education, training courses for physicians, and will contribute to enhanced research on rare disorders by promoting collaboration in this field. (©Orphanews 02 Décembre 2021)

In Italy : Adoption of a National Law for Rare Diseases. This law provides a definition of rare diseases as one with a prevalence of less than five patients per 10 thousand. This definition fits in with the one used at the European level. The law also provides for the establishment of a National Committee for Rare Diseases within the Ministry of Health. (©Orphanews 2^nd December 2021)

Since the beginning of the year, Georges Martinho, FFP General Delegate, led several projects at the double all showing positive and very promissing results :

• The FFP plea was published in March. It gathers together the difficulties, needs and proposals of thousands of persons suffering from skin diseases in France, wether these diseases are rare or not. Delivered to all Health Authorities and elected Representatives acrossthe country, its aims are : long-term improvment of quality of life for skin patients ; advocacy against social and local inequalities ; improved support of care journeys ; getting patients’ expertise recognised. The first reactions are very positive.

• National Office of Solidarity for Autonomy (CNSA) and Local Houses for Disabled People (MDPH) working towards the recognition of a « Skin Disability » and adapting the administrative steps to the reality and specificities of dermatologic diseases.

• Rallying Members of Parliament : After sending the petition, several meetings have taken place with Members of Parliament and Senators. The working areas fo the Members of Parliament and the FFP include meeting patients to increas knowledge of their needs, bringing the issues to the parliamentary debate and proposing amendments to legislation.

• Taking par in the inter-associative task-force of pharmaceutical industries : Following the recommendations published by the European Commission on how to improve the information on health products, a survey and a meeting allowed members of the FFP to share their point of view and take part in this work.

• Educational aids for children and teenagers : These aids have an informative and educational aim illustrated by concrete situations. We will soon start working with illustrators, various tools have been mentioned (books, videos,etc). The first two aids, for 6-11 year olds and 12-18 year olds, are taking shape and should be edited by the end of this year.

The FFP is doing great and has real concrete results.