It’s time to raise awareness for and celebrate the patient population that lives with eosinophilic disorders. From May 15th until the 21st, the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) is running National Eosinophil Awareness Week, and they’re offering plenty of opportunities to get involved!

About Eosinophilic Disorders

Before we can celebrate and raise awareness, we should gain an understanding of what eosinophilic disorders are. People that have an associated condition have too many eosinophils, which are a type of white blood cell. Depending on where these elevated eosinophil levels are in the body, a patient will have a different disorder. A few of the different types are:

• Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE)
• Eosinophilic asthma
• Eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EG)

There are many other types, which you can explore with APFED. Symptoms vary depending on the specific condition one has, but these disorders are typically chronic and require long-term management.

Celebrating National Eosinophil Awareness Week

Back in 2007, the United States House of Representatives signed Bill 296, which officially marked the third week of May as National Eosinophil Awareness Month. Now, in 2022, we are celebrating fifteen years of advocacy and awareness.

There are a number of ways for you to get involved in National Eosinophil Awareness Week. Patient Worthy has listed them all out here for you to make things easy.

Here are some suggestions:

• Educate yourself and others!
  • Use the hashtags #EosAware and #NEAW
  • Share the graphics and videos that APFED provides
• Donate to the cause!
  • You can make direct donations here
  • Host a fundraiser, which can be done in person or through Facebook
• Unite with the patient community!
  • Join APFED, go to events, and participate in anything you can!
• Change the world we live in to make it a better place
  • Contact your legislator to push for helpful laws
  • Change the color of your porch lights to magenta
• Awareness raising
  • Wear magenta or purchase merchandise to help raise awareness
• Thank those around you
  • It’s important to show gratitude to those who you love, appreciate, and who have helped you along the way
• Engage in various efforts
  • If you’re a patient, there are many research opportunities to participate in
    • This could be either a clinical trial or a survey, for example
  • Join the online community, the Inspire Network.

For more information on this important week, visit APFED’s website!