The Hellenic League Against Rheumatism's (ELEANA) Special Lupus Project

The Hellenic League Against Rheumatism (ELEANA) with the contribution of Mr. Michael Konstantinidis, who is the writer and the art director of the total project and of the arts community, created and coordinated a special project for Lupus. This was done with the hope that it would contribute to relieving the stigma the disease bears, as the persistent problem of prejudice and stigmatization of mental and physical illness remains unchanged.

The campaign “LUPUS GR 2020” is the starting point of an integrated artistic/social project whose goal is to inform and raise awareness about prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of arthritis/Lupus patients.

Therefore, the creation of such a project enables organisations dealing with Lupus and health care providers around the world to re-contribute to the information and awareness campaign by assisting with research into pathophysiology.

The campaign consists of 17 photos of well-known artists who volunteered to help advocate and support the message of Lupus “living amongst us” and two videos. Each photo also contains an important message about Lupus.

Currently, a global campaign about Lupus supported by all organisations does not exist. Different organisations have varying agendas, philosophies and different awareness months, which results in widespread confusion. However, the power of art is so appealing that if organisations associated with Lupus choose to embrace it, they can make a difference by highlighting a global health problem.

The campaign among other promotional activities, was presented as a poster at the EULAR e-Congress 2020.