Building awareness of rare diseases is important and relevant for those who are affected and their relatives. Therefore Rare Disease Awareness Day was established by the European Organization for Rare Diseases in 2008 and takes place on the last day of February each year. The aim is to raise awareness and deepen understanding of unknown, overlooked and rare illnesses amongst the general public and decision-makers.
As a European pioneer in the field of rare diseases we contribute to the awareness raising of this important topic.
Therefore this year we cooperated with the Austrian national newspaper Die Presse dedicating a Round Table discussion to the topic of COVID-19 pandemic impact on the patients with rare disease.
Eva Otter, Vice Secretary of the patient support group PHA Europe, Prof Irene Lang, clinical cardiologist and Professor of Vascular Biology at the Medical University of Vienna, Dr Widmann, Founder, Board Member and Chief Scientific Officer at AOP Orphan, as well as Gerald Bachinger, Patient Advocate shared their valuable experience and perspective on this up-to-date aspect.
The article in German is available in the newspaper Die Presse am Sonntag, from February 28, 2021 and below as download.
To find out more about rare disease please visit our Rare Disease Story