RA Awareness Week 2022 (12-17 September)

25 August 2022

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) is proud to announce the launch of 2022’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Awareness Week (RAAW).

NRAS started RAAW in 2013 with the aim to raise the awareness of the condition by educating and informing friends, family, employers and the general population about what rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is and the devastating impact it can have on people’s lives.

RA is different to osteoarthritis (OA) in that it can strike at any age over 16. It is an auto-immune, disease, which is a key differentiating factor to OA and means that in addition to joints, it can affect internal organs such as the heart, lungs and eyes. There are very serious consequences to late diagnosis or lack of targeted appropriate and timely treatment.

For RAAW 2022 the theme is #RAFactOrFiction, focusing on dispelling the myths that surround this currently incurable invisible condition. The RA community, people living with RA, their families/carers and Healthcare professionals are only too aware of the misconceptions that other people can have around inflammatory arthritis, and we want to spread awareness to raise the profile of this condition with a ‘Fact or Fiction’ quiz that all can take part in.

I’ve lost count of the number of times in my 15+ years working for NRAS, that I’ve heard people with RA say ‘People who don’t have it, just don’t get it’, referring to how people, generally, don’t understand the seriousness of rheumatoid arthritis. So many times I’ve heard that it is not the ‘disease’ that ‘disables’ them but other people’s attitudes to the condition that proves to be the barriers for people to ‘live life without limits’…which is NRAS’ vision. Raising the understanding invisible conditions like inflammatory arthritis is vital to improving the lives of the 450,000+ UK adults with RA”

Clare Jacklin, NRAS CEO

Help us to spread awareness of the #RAFactOrFiction campaign by taking part in the quiz and have a chance to win one of 10 prizes; share it with your friends and family, and get people talking about the myths that surround RA. We hope that people will take away some vital information that will help them understand this hidden condition. Alongside this campaign we will also be posting videos on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and sharing these will also help spread the word about RAAW 2022.

Click here for more information.