The Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department in the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (Ministry VSA), says Saturday, May 10, 2025, is World Lupus Day under the theme, “Belonging. Belief.”
This theme emphasizes the importance of community support and the belief in a future where lupus is better understood and managed.
It's a call to action for people to join together in raising awareness, advocating for patients, and supporting research into this autoimmune disease.
Lupus is a chronic, auto-immune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body).
Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years.
In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs (“foreign invaders,” like the flu).
Normally a person’s immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Auto-immune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues (“auto” means “self”) and creates auto antibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These auto antibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body.
The local support group for lupus is Butterfly Warriors who can be reached via email: sxm.butterflywarriors@gmail.com
For those interested in joining them, just reach out.
World Lupus Day is sponsored by the World Lupus Federation, a coalition of lupus patient organizations from around the world, united to improve the quality of life for people affected by lupus.
World Lupus Day serves to call attention to the impact that lupus has on people around the world. The annual observance focuses on the need for improved patient healthcare services, increased research into the causes of and cure for lupus, earlier diagnosis and treatment of lupus, and better epidemiological data on lupus globally.
https://www.sintmaartengov.org/news/Pages/Saturday-is-World-Lupus-Day--Belonging--Belief.aspx
