2018

Many of you ask general questions about the World Vitiligo Day campaign, so here is a rundown of the most common queries:

• How many signatures do we need to have the World Vitiligo Day recognized by the United Nations or the World Health Organization? 

There is no official guide on "How To Proclaim The World <Something> Day" and thus we don't know for sure what would it take. Some groups have achieved similar goals with many thousands of participants. For example, a dedicated team of International Federation of Psoriasis Associations (IFPA) spent ten years rallying for the World Psoriasis Day and after two unsuccessful attempts, it was finally recognized by the WHO in May 2014. We hope that you are one of over half a million people who have signed petition to the UN Secretary General, asking for June 25th to be officially designated World Vitiligo Day. The more names we have, the stronger we are – so thank you for your support. 

• Which country do the most petition signatures come from?

That distinction currently belongs to India, followed by the US, China (even though campaign website seems to be unavailable for most people there) and then Indonesia. You can see a full, up to date breakdown here.

• What is your current progress with the officials?

The main sponsor and organizer of campaign, non-profit Vitiligo Research Foundation was recently granted membership at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nations’ central platform for debate and innovative thinking (details). This membership allows us to bring the World Vitiligo Day on the UN agenda and hopefully have it approved by the UN General Assembly. In the meantime, we are supporting lobbying activities of other groups in the US, including Vitiligo Bond (Georgia) and VITFriends (Massachusetts).

• Is there an official color, image or logo for WVD? 

In a word, no! We encourage individual organizations to use whatever works best for them. VITSAF in Nigeria, for example, uses purple, whereas others are using a black and white combination.

• Is there a WVD T-shirt?

Yes, thanks to Olumide Omololu who won a competition in 2014 to design an ‘unofficial’ WVD T-shirt. This proved so popular that we distributed nearly 2,000 of the shirts to support groups across the world, but we have now run out of stock. So, if you want to wear WVD T-Shirt, try doing it yourself - just download the design file you like from here and then send or take it to a print on demand T-shirt shop. If it sounds too comlicated, find an online print-shop and send them link to this page - they should be able to take care of the rest. 

• Do you have anything I can use to help promote World Vitiligo Day?

Yes, we have put together a media toolkit to help you launch local awareness campaigns. Go to Download Center and scroll down to the ‘Media’ section to find the relevant downloads.

• What can I do to help?

Signing the petition and telling people about WVD is a great start. More specifically, we are currently asking dermatologists and beauty clinics to offer free skin check-ups for vitiligo and other pigmentation disorders on or around June 25th. Last year, 50+ participating doctors and clinics provided free dermatological consultations to patients. So, if you’re a dermatologist or beautician, or you know somebody who is and can help us, we would love to hear from you. If you already have something planned for World Vitiligo Day then please do let us know. We’ll add your activity to our WVD calendar of events.

• Where will be the campaign headquarters in 2017?

WVD Steering Committee have chosen Sao Paolo, Brazil, as campaign’s 2017 headquarters, under the presidency of Prof. Paulo Cunha.