Every year, the last day of February marks Rare Disease Day - #RareDiseaseDay. It is the official international campaign to bring awareness to the issues and struggles of patients and their families. The day was initiated by the European Federation of Parents of Patients and Patients with Rare Diseases EURORDIS - Rare Diseases Europe in 2008. The date is the last day of February and in leap years it is February 29, the rarest day of the year.

Rare diseases are congenital conditions with a chronic and often severe, progressive and life-threatening disease course. There are more than 7 000 diseases classified as rare and 80% of them are genetic.

In Poland, approximately 2-3 million people suffer from rare diseases. Together with each of these people, their closest family members are also " ill", so on average another 6 million people. Altogether this amounts to almost 9 million people, i.e. almost 25% of the Polish population. On the other hand, if we were to gather all the rare disease sufferers in the world into one country, it would be the third most populous country in the world, and with their families even the first.

The European Union considers a rare disease to be one that affects less than 5 in 10 000 citizens. Rare diseases currently affect between 3.5% and 5.9% of the world's population, around 30 million people in Europe and 300 million people worldwide. To date, more than 7,000 different rare diseases have been identified. 80% of rare diseases are genetic, while others are the result of infections (bacterial or viral), allergies and environmental causes. 70% of these rare genetic diseases start in childhood.

The University of Gdańsk has been researching rare diseases for many years. The leading scientist in this field is prof. dr hab. Grzegorz Węgrzyn from the Faculty of Biology. The researcher deals with molecular biology, genetic diseases and genetics of bacteria and bacteriophages. He led a team of scientists who developed a new and, at the same time, the first effective method of Sanfilippo disease treatment, making it possible to stop its devastating processes.

As a sign of solidarity with people and families affected by rare diseases, the city of Gdańsk will light up selected buildings in green, blue and pink. The action aims to spread awareness of rare diseases and their impact on the lives of patients and their loved ones.

More information about the initiative and activities around the world can be found on the official website www.rarediseaseday.org