Today is World Aspergillosis Day and we are celebrating the #goodwork our client, The Aspergillosis Trust, is doing to raise awareness about the underdiagnosed disease, aspergillosis.
The Aspergillosis Trust is a UK based patient led advocacy group that works tirelessly to raise awareness of the disease amongst health professionals and people everywhere.
Those who develop aspergillosis experience loss of lung function and difficulty breathing, eventually causing erosion of lung tissue and cavities.
However, awareness of aspergillosis is startlingly low amongst health professionals in the UK. This lack of awareness can lead to years of delayed diagnosis or even a misdiagnosis of cancer. People with aspergillosis can face rounds of unhelpful courses of antibiotics and steroids, stress, frustration and anxiety, but also irreversible lung damage.
The Aspergillosis Trust advocates for aspergillosis patients, providing crucial information and support to those who are unsure where to even begin. It is important that those with aspergillosis know they are not alone.
World Aspergillosis Day was set up in 2018 to raise awareness about aspergillosis within the following groups:
- Clinicians need better awareness to be able to ‘think fungus’ when repeated attempts to treat infections fail. Serious fungal infections are underdiagnosed worldwide.
- People with one of the multiple forms of aspergillosis need much better support and information as aspergillosis is a rare infection that isolates people.
- People who live with and care for people with aspergillosis often need to better understand what the patient is going through and themselves need understanding & support.
- Those who fund our health services need to be more aware and to better provide diagnostics and treatments worldwide.
We were thrilled for the opportunity to produce a promotional video for World Aspergillosis Day and help design patient leaflets and posters for the Aspergillosis Trust to use in their advocacy.