May 29 marks World Digestive Health Day (WDHD), and this year’s campaign, titled “Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Navigating Evolving Therapies in an Evolving Disease”, has a central focus on Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
The annual public advocacy and awareness campaign is spearheaded by the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO), which provides gastroenterologists, patients, and the public with information about the latest clinical research into Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
“This campaign seeks to translate research into clinical practice and facilitate communication between physicians, pharmacists, allied health professionals, healthcare payers, and the public,” says Dr. Charles Bernstein, Head of Gastroenterology at the University of Manitoba and Chair of World Digestive Health Day 2017.
“We want to ensure that patients receive appropriate dietary and lifestyle advice as well as appropriate investigations and treatment, relevant to their condition and circumstances. We want to ensure awareness of the disease and its management is raised in countries where IBD is being increasingly and newly diagnosed.”
The campaign aims to:
- Increase awareness of IBD by providing a broad overview on the signs and symptoms.
- Provide gastroenterologists, their patients, and the lay public with an understanding of the latest basic and clinical research on IBD.
- Translate research into clinical practice and facilitate communication between physicians, pharmacists, allied health professionals, healthcare payers, and the public.
- Encourage dialogue on IBD and how to manage the disease while living a full, active life.
- Ensure that patients receive appropriate diagnosis and treatment related to their condition.
- Uncover ways to manage and sustain optimal gastrointestinal health while coping with IBD.
- Recognize competing diagnoses with IBD differ in different jurisdictions.
- Define optimal approaches to diagnosis and management when resources are limited.
- Advocate for the availability of optimal diagnostic tools and therapies in the developing world.
- Define the unmet needs of IBD.
To help achieve these goals, the WGO has created a number of sharable resources, including a top 10 list of tips for people living with IBD, which you can find
here.
For more information on all that’s happening for WDHD 2017,
click here.