World Psoriasis Day in Kenya

Michael Kinyanjui (Secretary) and Dr Hoseah Waweru (Chairman) of the Psoriasis Association of Kenya send in this report on World Psoriasis Day 2006 activities from Kenya:

In line with the resolutions made at the World Psoriasis Day meeting in Stockholm in early June, 2006, the Psoriasis Association of Kenya (PAK) drew up a list of activities to be done as part of the 2006 World Psoriasis Day celebration.

In preparation for the launch of a PAK Medical Advisory Council and to raise awareness of the World Psoriasis Day initiative, highlights of the 1st World Psoriasis Conference and the recent World Psoriasis Day meeting were presented to dermatologists in Nairobi on 20 July.

PAK Medical Advisory Council

The PAK Medical Advisory Council itself was launched at a dinner sponsored by the Psoriasis Association of Kenya on 03 August 2006; in attendance were members of the Kenya Association of Dermatologists (KAD). Four dermatologists practising in Nairobi were appointed to the board of the Advisory Council and as part of the 2006 celebration a "Highlights of World Psoriasis Day" was given.

Communicating World Psoriasis Day

There were many radio broadcasts aired for World Psoriasis Day 2006:

• 08 August - Citizen FM radio talk: "Psoriasis Overview" and "World Psoriasis Day aims" by dermatologists
• 10 August - Inoro FM radio talk on "Psoriasis Treatment"
• 15 September - A presentation about a patient's life experience was given by a patient on Classic FM radio
• 25 October - A dermatologist gave highlights of psoriasis and World Psoriasis Day on a Christian radio station, Family FM.

The "Psoriasis Overview" brochure was uploaded on the PAK website on 15 August 2006.

General Meeting

The PAK Annual General Meeting was held on 09 September - World Psoriasis Day highlights and aims were discussed in the meeting and members had a chance of signing the WPD petition manually since most of them do not have access to internet.

The Greatest Race on Earth

For World Psoriasis Day, the PAK sponsored its members to participate in the "greatest race on earth": the Nairobi Marathon as part of WPD celebration. Images of WPD posters and banners displayed by the PAK participants were shown in leading electronic and print media.

The PAK presence in the marathon generated a lot of interest about psoriasis among the general public and media.

There were many more activities planned to celebrate World Psoriasis Day 2006 but not all could be achieved e.g. newspaper, television and magazine spots and medical camps.

Measurement of success

The measurement of our 2006 success is ongoing and encompasses:

• Website hit monitoring
• Media impression tracking
• PAK membership increment monitoring
• Tracking of postal and e-mail enquiries
• Tracking of health workers referring patients to become a PAK member

The monitoring is to be completed on 30 December 2006.