Dear HIFA colleagues,
Thank you for engaging with World Psoriasis Day through recent social media and forum posts. The theme was around co-morbidities and the need to see beyond a visual skin disease. The event was organised by IFPA (the International Federation of Psoriasis Associations), which has a membership of 65 national psoriasis groups, my organisation, PAPAA, represents the UK.
We were pleased to see a strong response in our community, and several colleagues expressed their appreciation for increased visibility on these important issues.
We have noticed a significant increase in visitors to our website from outside the UK, including many from LMICs. Learning from this, we recognise the urgent need to provide accessible, relevant psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis information for a global audience.
To address these needs, PAPAA is developing an online continuing professional development (CPD) training programme for non-specialist healthcare settings, designed with global applicability in mind. Our aim is to offer some free access, especially for colleagues in LMICs. We would welcome advice or collaboration from HIFA members regarding:
* Identifying cost-effective, internationally recognised CPD accreditation bodies (we have previously worked with the Royal College of Nursing in the UK, but seek alternatives better suited to an international audience).
* Suggestions for adapting educational content to diverse contexts and languages.
Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.
Many thanks
David Chandler
Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Alliance (PAPAA)
HIFA profile: David Chandler has diverse experience, being involved in the UK voluntary sector since 1993. He has held the posts of coordinator of the Skin Care Campaign at the National Eczema Society, general manager at Teaching Aids at Low Cost, an international healthcare training and education NGO, Chief Executive of the Psoriasis Support Trust and also co-founded and jointly managed the Psoriatic Arthropathy Alliance with his wife Julie. During this time David has been a patient advocate, and given presentations on the patient perspective in Europe and the US, written and published articles, developed awareness campaigns and been involved in the development of both quantitative and qualitative research. David is currently Chief Executive of PAPAA - The Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Alliance a UK patient charity. Prior to moving into healthcare advocacy he worked in commercial business. David is also involved in other committees as expert patient and lay public representative, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Commission for Human Medicine (CHM)and INVOLVE at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). David also has a keen interest in social inclusion and equality issues. davidchandler AT btconnect.com