Awareness Raising

World IBD Day takes place on 19 May each year and unites people in their fight against Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, known as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).

EFCCA is coordinating this year´s campaign which will see famous landmarks around the globe lit in purple in order to raise awareness about the approximately 10 million people that are living with IBD.

Alongside illuminated landmarks many patient associations and activists will organise local supporting events aimed at lobbying and/providing information about IBD.

Over 120 landmarks worldwide joined our global World IBD Day on 19 May to raise awareness about Crohn´s disease and Ulcerative Colitis, collectively known as IBD.

Famous landmarks from 28 countries on 5 continents were lit in purple that evening to show their support for the over 5 million people who live with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

The campaign was led by EFCCA together with its national IBD patient associations and many other IBD sister organisations and IBD activistis from around the world.

The European Federation of Crohn's & Ulcerative Colitis Associations (EFCCA) and the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) have initiated the public awareness campaign “Join the fight against IBD”. Its aim is to enhance the general understanding of the physical and socio-economic burdens of the disease and to accelerate the dissemination of new standards of care of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) among health institutions, healthcare providers. 

“Equal Rights for Citizens with IBD” was the main message emerging from the conference organized by EFCCA in cooperation with the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) and United European Gastroenterologists (UEG) which took place in the European Parliament on 17 October.

On 28-29 November a group of people living with IBD and IBD healthcare specialists from 6 countries in the Middle East including Oman, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait met for the first time in Dubai to exchange ideas and experiences on how to improve the quality of life of people with IBD in the Middle East.

The EFCCA purple team joins 20 km Brussels race in order to raise awareness about Crohn´s disease and Ulcerative Colitis.