World Mitochondrial Disease Week 2024

30 Oct, 2024

We had an amazing World Mitochondrial Disease Week this year. This year’s Awareness Week theme was Illuminate Tomorrow: Revitalize your energy. From 16-22 September, our member organisations and community around the world hosted events and took to social media to raise awareness about mito.

Among this year’s events were Kevin Day’s March of the Day with The Lily Foundation. MitoCanada’s Walk N’ Roll 4 Mito, and Mitocon’s Da parco a parco (From park to park) along with many other events and activities.

Significant awareness was raised on social media using our social media templates which provided educational information about mito, ways to spread awareness, and important dates during Awareness Week. These templates were translated into numerous languages including Spanish, Finnish, Romanian, and Portuguese.

Awareness was also raised on social media through our Faces of Mito campaign in which patients and families from around the globe shared their personal experiences with Mito.

Light Up for Mito took place on 21 September with many monuments around the world illuminated green to spread awareness for mito. This year, 181 monuments across 10 countries participated in Light Up for Mito. Some of this year’s participating monuments included the Port of Liverpool Building and Osaka Castle. People also spread awareness in their local communities by participating in Light Up your Porch and installing green lightbulbs to illuminate their porches.

TK2d Awareness Day took place on 10 September just before Awareness Week began with many people taking to social media to raise awareness and share their experiences.

The Thursday of Awareness Week, 19 September, was LHON Awareness Day. IMP hosted a webinar on LHON Awareness Day which was themed “LHON and Gene Therapy: Where are they now?” and provided insights from researchers, pharmaceutical companies, EMA representatives, and people living with LHON on advancements in gene therapy for LHON. The webinar had 60 attendees from over 10 countries and featured six speakers. These incredible speakers shared valuable information about developments in gene therapy for LHON and offered various perspectives and expertise including that of a clinician, researcher, and patient. Attendees and speakers also had time for discussion and questions at the end of the webinar.

Thank you to all who participated in and supported this year’s World Mitochondrial Disease Week and the continued efforts to spread awareness about mitochondrial disease.