Public Advocacy Programmes

SMHF has supported activities to promote positive images of HD and the people affected by the disease through publications of books, posters and other materials which stress their achievements, highlight their abilities, and recognise challenges, and celebrate personal victories.

Since April 2004, SMHF has published a bimonthly newsletter to encourage endemic nations in their efforts to eliminate HD and to promote social movements working to rid the world of HD-related discrimination. The newsletter is sent to political leaders, healthcare providers, media representatives, NGOs, industrialists, educators as well as organisations of people affected by HD.

Three messages it emphasises are: HD is curable; treatment is available free of charge; and social discrimination has no place. The newsletter includes not only hard, factual articles about organisations and national elimination efforts, but also stories about people: people working in the field, people who have been affected by HD, and people who have made a difference in the lives of those around them.

Preservation of History

As HD has become curable, the many issues related to the disease have begun to receive less attention. In each country, the history of HD is unique, and yet throughout the world it is a story of oppression, and despair. The many lessons that it has to teach are very important to the creation of a more accepting society. In order to enable future generations to continue to learn from this record of stigma and discrimination, SMHF supports organisations that are trying to collect and preserve the many, widely scattered documents remaining at institutions around the world. It is our hope that, by pulling together this record of disease-related stigma and discrimination, we will be able to utilise the lessons that it has to offer, and on this base build a society where people with disease can live without fear of segregation or discrimination.