Event Summary

Saturday 29 February was the 13th edition of Rare Disease Day. The campaign continues to grow each year since it was first launched in 2008. Thousands of events were organised over 100 countries and regions to mark the occasion.

The community joined together across borders and across diseases to show that Rare is many. Rare is strong. Rare is proud!

• Thousands of events took place in over 100 countries.
• We welcomed 4 new countries to the campaign: Gabon, Iraq, Kosovo and Rwanda.
• There was a fantastic variety of awareness events including a march to raise awareness in Argentina, a family day in Lebanon, and a discussion on health and educational policies on rare diseases in Tanzania.

The Rare Disease Day 2020 campaign focused on creating adaptable and editable campaign materials to be translated in over 30 languages all around the world. Together we educated the public about key facts and figures on rare diseases.

The official poster highlighted the fact that although the diseases are rare they affect more than 300 million people around the world. The Rare Disease Day campaign materials have been downloaded a record of over 35 000 times.

Media Coverage

Rare Disease Day was reported from around the world including in Belgium, Peru, Singapore and the United States.

Social Media Highlight

Around the world all stakeholders joined in on social media to share updates on their activities and messages of solidarity throughout the day. The official hashtag #RareDiseaseDay trended in a record 13 countries across 5 continents including Australia, Canada, France India and Mexico.

Thank you to our Online Ambassadors @sarageurts, @tummyandgummy, @oddlyyvie, and Jana Popova for showing your support on social media!