(ANSA) – NAPLES, FEBRUARY 16 – A project to introduce children and young people to the world of rare diseases and spread a message of inclusion and hope: it’s called “The Country of Rarities” and is the first comic strip entirely dedicated to diseases rare which tells the story of a father and a son discovering a place where rarity is considered a precious superpower to take care of. Presented today in the Campania Region during an event for the celebrations of World Rare Disease Day on 28 February, the cartoon was created by the Rare Diseases Coordination Center of the Campania Region – active at the Colli di Napoli hospital under the the guidance of Professor Giuseppe Limongelli -, with the support of Chiesi Global Rare Diseases.
A disease is defined as rare when it affects fewer than 1 in 2,000 people. But rare does not mean few: today there are between 7,000 and 8,000 rare pathologies, which together affect over 2 million people in Italy and 30 million in Europe. In 80% of cases, these diseases have a genetic basis and appear at birth or in early childhood.
In Campania, according to the Regional Rare Disease Register, there are about 30,000 certified patients.
For many patients, the diagnosis remains a complex process, due to the variety of clinical manifestations and symptoms that each of these pathologies can have. Greater knowledge can allow for earlier diagnosis and more targeted interventions, and help patients break out of the isolation that the disease brings, making those affected feel “different”. This is the meaning of “The Land of Rarities”, a fantastic place where everything is rare and precious, where the little patient protagonist of the story is transformed into a superhero, surrounded by many friends, each with a different superpower, and by a team of ‘doctors’ who carries out an important mission: to help superheroes better manage their superpowers. The journey of the two protagonists, which meets the imagination of children through the language of comics, is nothing more than the path that patients take to obtain a diagnosis and, where possible, a cure, thanks to the precious work of the Disease Coordination Center Rare.
“This project was born with the aim of making children and young people aware of issues related to rare diseases, using the lightness and creativity of comics to tell the value of uniqueness and promote the importance of hospitality”, explains Limongelli, director of the Rare Diseases Coordination Center of the Campania Region. (HANDLE).
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