28th February 2011: World Rare Disease Day

February 28th 2011 will mark the fourth International Rare Disease Day coordinated by EURORDIS and organized with rare disease national alliances in 25 countries. On that day hundreds of patient organizations from more than 40 countries worldwide will be organizing awareness-raising activities and converging around the slogan:

“Rare but Equal”

While the average level of health in most parts of  the world have continued to improve over the last decades and huge progress has been made in scientific research and medical technology, health gaps amongst countries and within countries are widening, especially for the most vulnerable groups in society.

What about people living with rare diseases?

Every rare disease patient has his story of injustice to tell. For some of them it will be about obtaining life-saving treatments or being reimbursed, or about gaining access to specialized services or being considered eligible for disability compensation. Others have more difficulties finding a job, getting into school, obtaining a loan or accessing lifetime insurance.

From my point of view to define certain diseases as rare is not fully correct, as any patient suffers from a disease, no matter is it rare or widespread. That is a different perspective of seeing the problem. Defining some diseases as “rare” seems irrational, because namely those pathologies need more attention from both doctors and authorities all over the world.  

We appreciate the slogan used in American Rare Disease Day campaign :

Alone we are Rare. Together we are Strong.

Respiratory Decade is proud to be a partner of International Rare Disease Day.

 Together we are for:

•  Equal access for rare disease patients to health care and social services 

•  Equal access to basic social rights: health, education, employment, housing

•  Equal access to orphan drugs and treatments

Somebody can say that these diseases are invisible, but one can only presume the real number of patients with these “rare” pathologies. Being rare a disease never stops to be a disease, with its symptoms and consequences.

Stop the re-opening of Jeffrey Asbestos Mine! Stop mining and exporting Canadian asbestos!

PETITION: We are encouraging folks to “turn their anger to into action” and sign Noel’s petition. People are again outraged with Quebec’s Associate Deputy Minister for Mines response to our letter opposing the Jeffrey Mine funding/reopening online at http://bit.ly/hl4cUJ.

LETTER: Our blog with the Quebec’s letter is being shared with independent bloggers to maximize sharing, as seen with "Canadian Government Supports The Safe Use of Asbestos to maximize sharing http://pagroupuk.blogspot.com/2011/02/candian-government-supports-safe-use-of.html

TWITTER and FACEBOOK: Below are some of our petition micro-messages for anyone who may be interested in posting and sharing.

Turn Your Anger into Action – Sign the “Stop the re-opening of Jeffrey Asbestos Mine” petition today. http://bit.ly/eibOVZ#mesothelioma #cancer

Dare to Care – Sign the petition to stop the Jeffrey #Asbestos Mine from re-opening http://bit.ly/eibOVZ #mesothelioma #cancer

Stop the re-opening of Jeffrey #Asbestos Mine! Sign the petition today at http://bit.ly/eibOVZ #mesothelioma #cancer

Stop mining and exporting Canadian #asbestos! Sign the petition today at http://bit.ly/eibOVZ #mesothelioma #cancer 

In unity,

Linda Reinstein
Chief Executive Officer
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization

"Asbestos is a Proven Carcinogen"  Video Presentation by James Webber, PhD ADAO's 7th Annual International Asbestos Awareness Conference brings together some of the world's greatest minds to discuss the impact of asbestos on public health, the environment, and the economy. To get an idea of the exceptional speakers you'll see this year, view last year's 2010 Asbestos Awareness Conference Video Presentation "Asbestos is a Proven Carcinogen" by James Webber, PhD.

European Respiratory Society Congress Amsterdam 2011

Chairs of European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress Amsterdam 2011 Professors Elisabeth Bel and Peter Sterk say: "It is an honour to be able to welcome for the first time an ERS Annual Congress to Amsterdam, a city renowned for its cultural diversity, world-class museums and one of the world's great orchestras. And, after a full day of Congress sessions, there is nothing better than a stroll along one of the city's many beautiful tree-lined canals."

The 2011 ERS Congress is an unmatched opportunity to communicate your work, research and practices to thousands of your peers from Europe and overseas.

Submit your abstract TODAY at 

http://www.erscongress2011.org/index.php/abstracts/online-submission.html

First time contributors can download our guide ‘How to write a good abstract - a few helpful hints’ at

http://www.erscongress2011.org/images/stories/How_to_write_a_good_abstract3.pdf

Reminder! All abstracts to be submitted by 24 FEBRUARY 2011

For encouraging you I present a simple statistics from Moldova:

Abstract submission pulverizes all previous records!

6'540: that is the record-breaking number of abstracts submitted for the 2010 ERS Barcelona Congress, 

up a massive 21% on the previous record of 5,386, 

established in Vienna in 2009.

When submitting your abstract you can also apply for grants and sponsorships. 

See http://www.erscongress2011.org/index.php/funding.html for more information

Remember, the more abstracts for review and comment, the richer the Congress experience for all delegates!

Professors Elisabeth Bel and Peter Sterk state: "The ERS Annual Congress is the once-a-year occasion when the world's respiratory experts and professionals converge on a European city to meet, exchange views and share knowledge. We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam, September 2011, capital of the Netherlands and, for five days, international capital of respiratory medicine and research."

Thank you for your vital contribution to this important event!

Dr. Alexandru Corlateanu

ERS National Delegate for Republic of Moldova

4 February 2011 is World Cancer Day: Returning to Hippocrates

Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world. World Health Organization estimates that 84 million people will die of cancer between 2005 and 2015 without intervention.

Each year on 4 February, World Health Organization supports International Union Against Cancer to promote ways to ease the global burden of cancer.

Cancer kills more people than AIDS, Malaria, and TB combined and without immediate, significant improvements - preventable/curable cancers will continue to kill millions of people worldwide. 

You can make difference! 

Respiratory Decade is encouraging you to sign the Declaration elaborated by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) which is the largest cancer fighting organization:

http://www.uicc.org/declaration/sign-world-cancer-declaration

Help us reach our goal of 1,000,000 fans - your support will help us advocate for a cancer free world at the first United Nations Summit on Non Communicable Diseases in September 2011.

In the 1912 edition of his classic textbook of medicine, William Osler stated that "primary tumors of the lung are rare." Lung cancer is now the most common cause of cancer death in both men and women in the United States and is the leading cause of cancer death overall in the world, with over 1,000,000 deaths occurring yearly.

Smoking was suspected as causing lung cancer as early as the late 1920s, when physicians began seeing increasing numbers of patients with this heretofore rare disease and noted that nearly all were cigarette smokers.

In the Lung Health Study elegantly was demonstrated that risk for lung cancer decreases with smoking cessation, where the efficacy of smoking cessation interventions in decreasing lung cancer deaths was demonstrated in a prospective, controlled trial.

Another cause of lung cancer, which is also can be prevented, is asbestos!

In 1955 there was published scientific work demonstrating a highly persuasive association between heavy asbestos exposure and lung cancer.

Unfortunately, similar to tobacco, there was a very long delay between the documentation of the etiologic effect of asbestos in lung carcinogenesis and implementation of policies to protect the public. Problem of asbestos persists!

We will be happy if after some time, after considerable reduction and final elimination of tobacco products from the marketplace and elimination of asbestos from industry, next generations will return to the phrase of famous American surgeon Professor Johnston: "Hippocrates never heard of lung cancer"!

We can prevent lung cancer and 

raise quality of life for lung cancer patients!