Rare Disease Day is the global awareness-raising campaign for the 300 million people living with a rare disease worldwide and their families, taking place on the last day of February each year. The campaign has the goal of increasing equity for people living with a rare disease, improving their lives with equitable access to diagnosis, treatment, care and social opportunity. Rare Disease Day is open to everyone to get involved and seeks to build an engaged grassroots community of patients and families, whilst raising awareness amongst healthcare professionals, policy makers, institutions and the general public.
Since Rare Disease Day was first launched by EURORDIS and its Council of National Alliances in 2008, thousands of events have taken place throughout the world in over 100 countries, reaching hundreds of thousands of people and resulting in a great deal of media coverage.
The political momentum resulting from Rare Disease Day helps the rare disease community advance local, national and international advocacy priorities. It has notably contributed to the advancement of national plans and policies creating greater equity for people living with a rare disease. Even though the campaign started as a European event, Rare Disease Day has progressively become a worldwide phenomenon, with 60 rare disease national alliance official Rare Disease Day partners, and patient organisations in over 100 countries around the world participating each year. Our objective is for the World Health Organization to recognise the last day of February as the official Rare Disease Day.
Get involved in Rare Disease Day!
Rare Disease Day is open to everyone to get involved with spreading the word for people living a rare disease!
Submit your event
Are you organising an event to mark the occasion of Rare Disease Day this February? Submit your event to the global campaign website and take a look at the world map to see other events planned in your country.
Become a friend
Become a friend of Rare Disease Day to share how you will be supporting the campaign with colleagues, friends or family.
Download campaign materials
Download the latest Rare Disease Day campaign materials to use in your home, office or on social media to raise awareness.
Share your story
Share your story of living with a rare disease or caring for someone that does with the global community.
See highlights from previous Rare Disease Day campaigns.
Thank you to all donors supporting Rare Disease Day through EURORDIS International Initiatives.
For questions and more information get in touch at rarediseaseday@eurordis.org.
