Important psoriasis events, conventions, and meetings.

Psoriasis Deserves a Fair Shake

The Fair Shake Campaign Reaches out for Psoriasis

handshake In the “Fair Shake for Psoriasis Campaign,” people with psoriasis volunteer to meet with their members of Congress to explain what it’s like to have this disease. They urge their Congressional members to help in the fight to find better treatment methods for psoriasis, as well as a cure for this serious disease.

At the end of each meeting, while a photographer documents the event, volunteers shake hands with their senator or representative. The result: a photographic record guaranteed to help explode one of the most powerful myths about this disease – that it can be passed from one person to another through physical contact.

Another myth Fair-Shake volunteers tackle is that psoriasis is just a simple skin rash. On the contrary, psoriasis can trigger serious physical, social and emotional consequences, from social ostracism and employment discrimination, to increased risk for diabetes, heart attacks. psoriatic arthritis -- and even early death for those with severe cases of the disease.

The major idea behind the Fair Shake Campaign is that meeting face-to-face with those who make our national laws is one of the surest ways to get legislation enacted that will improve the lives of people with psoriasis. One such piece of legislation that desperately needs the support of members of Congress is the Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Research, Cure and Care Act of 2007.

Psoriasis Awareness Takes on Congress at the 5th Annual Capitol Hill Day

Every year since 2004, scores of people with and without psoriasis take a day off from their daily routines to participate in “Capitol Hill Day.” And although March 3rd this year was a sunny warm day, psoriasis awareness stormed the "Hill" with troops of dedicated people showing support.

Volunteers representing more than half of the US states, converge in Washington, D.C., for this annual event aimed towards voicing the need for quality of life improvement for those living with psoriasis, and the urgency of finding a cure for this chronic skin disease.

Capitol Hill is an actual hill located in central Washington, D.C. Resting solidly on top of it, is the famous Capitol Building, the place where Congress meets and makes its laws. But Congress also has offices in buildings surrounding the Capitol, and it is primarily in these buildings that CHD volunteers go to educate senators, house representatives, and their aides about what psoriasis is.

The One Day the World Stops for Psoriasis

world psoriasis day logo

Every year on October 29, the world takes time out to learn a little more about the serious skin disease called psoriasis. In countries all over the globe -- from Argentina and Tanzania, to China and Singapore -- “World Psoriasis Day” is celebrated by events as diverse as national walks, seminars for medical professionals, roller-skating races, press conferences, parades, radio and TV interviews, and swimming events.

Begun in 2004 by “a global consortium of patient associations from around the world,” the main aim of World Psoriasis Day is to raise awareness on what psoriasis is: both what it is, and what it is not. It’s not contagious, for example – which studies show most people don’t know – and it’s not just a simple skin rash, something else most people don’t appear to understand. On the contrary, psoriasis causes social and emotional damage, as well as physical to the people who have it. The founders of World Psoriasis Day felt it was time the world was informed of this fact.

The World Psoriasis Day website lists 27 countries currently participating in World Psoriasis Day. Each country comes up with its own activities, which in 2007 included cinferences, public talks, large patient meetings, forums, articles published in magazines, press conferences, surveys, Iinformation stands, letters written to newspapers, art exhibits, and musical productions among others.