PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- The Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department in the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (Ministry VSA), says Friday, May 10, 2024, is World Lupus Day under the theme, “Make Lupus Visible.”
The local support group for lupus is Butterfly Warriors which can be reached via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Those interested in joining them should reach out.
Lupus is a chronic, auto-immune disease that can damage any body part (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years.
In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs (“foreign invaders,” like the flu).
Normally a person’s immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Auto-immune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues (“auto” means “self”) and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various body parts.
World Lupus Day is sponsored by the World Lupus Federation, a coalition of lupus patient organizations worldwide, united to improve the quality of life for people affected by lupus.
World Lupus Day serves to call attention to the impact that lupus has on people around the world. The annual observance focuses on the need for improved patient healthcare services, increased research into the causes of and cure for lupus, earlier diagnosis and treatment of lupus, and better epidemiological data on lupus globally.
