Dear GlobalSkin Members,
As I write this, I can’t believe that it is late September already! It has been a very busy year and if that is any indication of what the rest of the year holds, we will certainly finish 2023 in a very exciting and noticeable way. I’m pleased to share that six GlobalSkin Board Directors participated actively in GlobalSkin’s events and meetings at the World Congress of Dermatology (WCD) in Singapore in July. I was honored to have the opportunity to represent all of you as I delivered the first plenary keynote speech ever made by a patient advocate at the WCD.
GlobalSkin continues to Elevate your voices and the voices of your patients by Championing the common interests of people affected by dermatological conditions globally. We are also Uniting global dermatology stakeholders to bring about transformative change for patients.
This is evident through GlobalSkin’s work on the World Skin Health Coalition (WSHC). The WSHC is comprised of 27 Partners including 15 Patient organizations, six Healthcare professional societies, and six Industry companies. Development of a global awareness campaign is well underway with the goal of advocating to the World Health Organization and other decision-makers globally to elevate the health care prioritization of dermatological diseases. The multi-stakeholder group is focused on improving patient outcomes globally by raising awareness of the burdensome and multi-faceted impacts of these conditions. Patient stories will be collected to be featured in the awareness campaign and outreach will begin soon.
Of course, none of this work could not be done without the participation of YOU, our members! Our membership continues to grow steadily, and we are excited to have recently welcomed 13 organizations to our membership and added Chile to the list of 68 countries where we have patient organizations.
GlobalSkin supports our member organizations in the important and impactful work that you undertake to help your dermatology patient communities. We received and approved Impact Fund grant applications for 35 projects that will be completed this year by our member organizations in 21 countries representing 13 disease areas. Our call for 2024 applications will be on November 8 and we will be adding an additional category of funding for organizations to create Skin Cancer Awareness projects, alongside or in addition to their Impact Fund projects.
I would like to thank all those organizations that have been actively involved in the GRIDD Study. By sharing their experiences through our study, your patients will be helping to show clinicians, researchers, and policymakers the true impact of living with your dermatological condition. The study has made great progress but we really need more participation among our member organizations as we are just over 26% of the way towards achieving our 10,000-patients-participation goal. Currently, we have 2,679 participants in 84 countries representing 93 distinct disease areas. New communications tools have been launched including a new explainer video to help spread the word about the GRIDD Study and can be found here on our website.
GlobalSkin’s values are visible in all that we do for our members. We put your needs and the needs of people affected by dermatological conditions first. Our solidarity helps us work together to achieve our common goals and I am so proud to stand next to you on this journey!
Gratefully,
Marc Yale
GlobalSkin Board President
