Wear a spot of red for allergy awareness

In Australia and New Zealand, the Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia (AIFA) will recognise World Allergy Week (April 2-8, 2017) with a ‘wear a spot of red’ awareness and fundraising campaign. This virtual event encourages supporters to hold a ‘spot of red’ event in their home, school or workplace to raise awareness of the impact of allergy and raise funds for medical research into allergy.

World Allergy Week is an initiative of the World Allergy Organisation and the theme for 2017 is ‘The Agony of Hives – What to do when hives and swelling will not go away.’

Approximately 1 in 6 people will develop hives (also known as Urticaria) at some time during their life and hives are most common in children. Although most individuals have hives that go away in minutes to hours, around 1.8% of the population has chronic urticaria, or hives that last for weeks, months or even years. To date there is no cure for the disease but there is hope for controlling chronic urticaria with the help of an allergy/immunology specialist.

CEO of the Australasian Society for Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Jill Smith says “more research is needed to develop better treatments, strategies for prevention and diagnosis and even a cure for chronic urticaria and other associated allergic conditions.”

AIFA’s involvement in World Allergy Week 2017 is to draw attention to the impact of urticaria on sufferers and raise funds for more research into allergy.

The media also play a vital role in helping to raise awareness of important health issues like allergy. AIFA invites journalists to play a part by featuring stories and information that focuses attention on the impact of allergy in Australasia.

For information about how to get involved in World Allergy Week 2017 visit www.allergyimmunology.org.au/support-aifa/worldallergyweek