A Public Service Announcement (PSA) that coincided with the launch of the CFS Public Awareness Campaign by the CFIDS Association of America, as well as the CDC.
A Public Service Announcement (PSA) that coincided with the launch of the CFS Public Awareness Campaign by the CFIDS Association of America, as well as the CDC.
Due to the support of many gracious donors who believe in the CFIDS Association, this milestone was attainable. As long as the federal government continues to fail the CFS patient population, The Association will continue to step up, and fill that role. This year’s research campaign is the tip of the iceberg of what The Association is capable of, with support from us. As an individual living with CFS, I urge you to visit their website, and continue to support their efforts, as they support ours.
The federal government has failed the CFS patient population too many times, for far too long. Because of the inadequate response to a major health crisis, The CFIDS Association of America has been tasked with the role of education, public policy, and most recently, a robust research program, lead by Dr. Suzanne Vernon, PhD. The Association launched a research campaign, with the goal of raising $1 million, strictly for research, in 2008. That milestone was met at the end of this past August.
A recent DePaul study indicated that the economic impact due to CFS is $25 billion annually. Last year, a meager $114 million in lost productivity was attributed to psoriasis, yet the CDC & NIH spent a combined $10 million in research for the disease. Lost productivity due to diabetes cost $58 billion in 2007, and the NIH alone spent more than $1 billion on diabetes research. The NIH spent only $1.00 for research per patient with CFS in 2007; the NIH spent $48 per patient with diabetes in 2007.
Last year, the CDC spent $4.7 million in CFS research, while the NIH spent $4 million; $8.7 million total. A CDC prevalence study published in 2007 estimated that between 1 and 4 million Americans have CFS; the annual economic impact per household is reported to be $20,000 per household, per year — which only accounts for lost productivity, and not the costs associated with disability, insurance, etc. This translates to between $20 billion and $80 billion per year, in lost productivity alone.
Came across this after going to n00b3773′s channel. Didn’t know that anything like this PSA existed. The medical treatments available in the UK are psychiatric in origin and are increasingly being shown to be at best irrelevant and at worst dangerous. When all is said and done, the medical profession may not come out of this terribly well.
Oh wow, i wish they broadcasted this in Australia. : amazing.
An excellent PSA!