Patients, healthcare professionals and others come together for IPF Week

28 September – 5 October marks Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) Week 2014.

Each year, around 35,000 people in Europe are newly diagnosed with IPF. IPF Week, now in its third year, aims to bring IPF patient organisations together to raise awareness of the rare disease and to call for better access to care for people affected through a range of activities.

Individuals are also encouraged to sign the European IPF Patient Charter, which calls for greater awareness of IPF and for better access to care in European countries. The Charter lays down recommendations that, if adopted, would ensure improvements in quality of life for people with IPF, whilst supporting efforts to find a cure.

ELF has been involved with a European Respiratory Society (ERS) review of the European IPF guidelines published in 2011, holding focus groups to ensure that the document includes the patients’ perspective. These updated guidelines will be ready in 2015. If you’d like more information on this, please contact us. 

Picture: You can also show your support for the campaign by posting pictures of yourself blowing bubbles and posting them on social media using the hashtag #IPFWeek. Here’s the ELF team’s version.

Find out more about IPF World Week. 

Find out more about the European IPF Patient Charter.