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June 25th is a day of celebration of our lives and our community. The first World Vitiligo Day was held in 2011 and has since become an annual, global event. The campaign was born from the determination of non-profit organizations VR Foundation (USA) and VITSAF (Nigeria), and their supporters across the world, to bring this “forgotten” disease into the public eye, and to shine a light on challenges faced by those suffering from vitiligo.
The idea of a World Vitiligo Day was first nursed by Steve Haragadon, the founder of the Vitiligo Friends network, and then developed and finalized by Ogo Maduewesi, a Nigerian vitiligo patient who is the founder and Executive Director of the Vitiligo Support and Awareness Foundation (VITSAF). In her words, “World Vitiligo Day is a day to create extensive awareness on vitiligo and a day dedicated to all living with vitiligo globally”. The first World Vitiligo Day (also defined as “Vitiligo Awareness Day” or “Vitiligo Purple Fun day”, from the color chosen as Vitiligo Awareness Color) was observed on June 25, 2011. The choice of June 25 as World Vitiligo Day is a memorial to musical artist Michael Jackson, who suffered from vitiligo from the early 1980s until his death, which occurred on June 25, 2009. The main event of the first World Vitiligo Day occurred at Silverbird Galleria’s Artrum in Lagos, Nigeria, with the participation of several volunteers with different experiences (dermatologists, motivational speakers, dancers, artists, comedians, patients), united by the common will of spreading knowledge and awareness about vitiligo. Simultaneously, other events took place in other parts of the world, organized by local associations.
Vitiligo occurs in 1-2% of the population worldwide; a loss of color in the skin creating a variety of patterns on the skin from loss of pigment. Vitiligo is often called a disease instead of a disorder and that can have a significant negative social and/or psychological impact on patients, in part because of numerous misconceptions still present in large parts of the world.
Over the years, its purpose has broadened from raising awareness of vitiligo to include recognition of the bullying, social neglect, psychological trauma and disability of millions of people affected by vitiligo.
The eleventh annual World Vitiligo Day takes place on June 25-26th, 2021.
Each year WVD is officially hosted by a different city and in 2021 it is the turn of 🇮🇩 Jakarta, Indonesia to act as campaign headquarters. The honorary captain is Dr. Srie Prihianti Gondokaryono, supported by a strong team from the Indonesian Society of Dermatology & Venereology (Advisor: Dr. Yulianto Listiawan, Vice-President: Dr. Andreas Widiansyah, and Secretary: Dr. Hanny Nilasari).
