10th Anniversary of the Resolution on Psoriasis

From the Resolution to National Action: Success Stories

Name: IFPA
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23 April 2024

By IFPA

Before 2014, psoriasis was absent from the international agenda. Very few policy-makers had ever heard about the disease. The World Health Organization (WHO)’s website provided almost no information. Few took psoriasis seriously.

So IFPA set an ambitious target: to get the WHO Member States to adopt a resolution on psoriasis. This would be a powerful signal to states worldwide to take action on psoriasis.

In May 2014, the 67th World Health Assembly officially adopted Resolution WHA 67.9.

This Resolution is the only international resolution focusing solely on psoriasis. It states that psoriasis:

Is a chronic, painful, disfiguring, and disabling non-communicable disease, without a cure;

Has physical as well as psycho-social and socio-economic consequences;

Is connected to psoriatic arthritis and increases the risk of various co-morbid diseases;

Can lead to immense, needless suffering due to insufficient access to healthcare.

The 2014 WHA resolution on psoriasis is a milestone for the psoriatic disease community. Under IFPA’s leadership, many people worked hard to put psoriasis on the agenda of the World Health Organization. With the resolution as a new tool in their advocacy toolbox, many national psoriatic disease organizations reached out to their policymakers to demand change.

Four countries – the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Panama, and Sweden – have successfully advocated for adopting laws and guidelines in the country using the resolution as a tool to achieve progress.

Listen to their stories and their perspectives for the future.

Panama

Panama had a primary role in achieving the resolution of psoriasis. It was Panama leading the efforts at the World Health Organization that put psoriasis on the agenda. Panama Psoriasis Foundation, the patient organization in Panama and member of IFPA, and its founder Mónica Chapman, contacted the national policymakers to ask for their support at the international level. The contact with policymakers was fruitful to achieve a national policy win as well, when law 322 was passed in 2022. The Law declares psoriasis a disease of national interest, deserving medical attention, and encourages research and professional training in the early detection, diagnosis, and integral treatment.

Sweden

The Swedish Psoriasis Association and IFPA has always been working very closely. Lars Ettarp, former chairperson of the Swedish Psoriasis Association, has been the president of IFPA for many years and retired in 2018. After the resolution on psoriasis was adopted, the Swedish Psoriasis Association and its chairperson Tina Norgren immediately understood the value of it for national advocacy. Shortly after, the Swedish government assigned the National Board of Health and Welfare the development of national prioritization guidelines for treatment and care of psoriasis. The main purpose of the guidelines is to act as guidance for politicians and payers on how to prioritize healthcare budgets to ensure that those in greatest need of care are duly covered. They can be used as a template for the development of regional treatment guidelines or health care programs.

Philippines

Psoriasis Philippines (PsorPhil) has been tirelessly working to ensure that no person with psoriasis is left behind in their country, to break the circle of isolation and stigma, and to ensure access to care and treatment to those in need.

The founder of PsorPhil, Josef de Guzman, is a long-standing board member of IFPA and has been an active advocate for the rights of people with psoriatic disease at the international level, including for achieving the psoriasis resolution. At the same time, he and his team at PsorPhil have worked to achieve policy progress in the Philippines, using the resolution on psoriasis as a tool for their national advocacy.

On November 16, 2021 the Philippines' Committee on Health approved in principle House Bill No. 9821, entitled: "An Act Institutionalizing a National Psoriasis Care Program and Appropriating Funds Therefor." The bill will address unmet needs and improve the quality of life of Filipinos living with psoriatic disease by scaling up essential programs and increasing investments for robust management of psoriatic disease.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico’s strong advocacy work on the national implementation of the psoriasis resolution focused on encouraging the government to raise awareness of the disease. As in many other parts of the world, people with psoriatic disease in Puerto Rico have struggled with lack of awareness and information on psoriatic disease, its severity, and the comorbidities that people can develop. Using the psoriasis resolution at the national level, the Puerto Rican Association for Helping Psoriasis Patients (APAPP) and its founders Leticia N. López and Ricardo Colón, advocated to the government to achieve law 97 on November 1, 2022. The law declares October 29^th the National Psoriasis Awareness Day, to promote awareness and education of citizens about the disease.