The 100-day countdown for the World Rare Disease Day-2023 celebration, which falls on February 28, has started with the right earnestness.
This year, for creating awareness among the people, short multi-lingual animation videos in several world languages with subtitles were launched for easy understanding for the local population. They include Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, Kannada and Telugu.
While making a call for lighting up in rare colours on 28 February in solidarity with 300 million rare disease patients in the world, the three-minute animation videos highlight the importance of creating equitable opportunities and access to health for all rare disease patients.
In the absence of the right health infrastructure, expertise and empathy, a rare disease patient is more likely to experience misdiagnosis, treatment inequality and isolation.