Sending a huge thank you to all of you who helped to make Rare Disease Day 2026 so incredible. Once again you have overwhelmed us with our support, your creativity and your ongoing generosity in giving us your time, your stories, your faith. 

What a difference a word makes

This year really was a break from our ordinary ‘Show Your Stripes’ and a move to ask people (especially HCPs) to ‘Learn Your Stripes’. A one-word evolution that sent us on a very different path. This was a different ‘ask’ to the popular campaign that we have run since 2022. Whilst we wanted to maintain the stripy sock element (as you all love it so much) our key aim was to convert engagement into rare-awareness. Wearing stripy socks is great but reverting this engagement, to true understanding about why Rare Disease education is essential for clinical medicine, is even better. 

Rare Disease training is not just feasible, it is essential

By driving hundreds of new eyes to our short video we aimed to create a small shift in clinical mindset that could be life changing for those people impacted by rare conditions. Dedicated Rare Disease training is still a new concept to many a healthcare professional, who may have been led to think it an impossible ‘subject’ to learn. Our mini video repositioned Rare Disease training as feasible and essential; a learning resource to not only improve patient journeys but also to help improve NHS efficiency. 

More than just a day

Whilst Rare Disease Day is just one day, for 2026 we extended it to become a Rare Disease Week within the Rare Disease month. Whilst the day itself fell on a Saturday, we worked to prolong engagement throughout February, peaking in the last week. However this campaign was a long term plan and we had support from many of you from November 2025 to create the new campaign direction. 

Supporting your way

One of the things I have seen more this year than ever before, was people supporting in ways that felt comfortable for them. Whilst some provided videos to assist our campaign, others preferred to write their thoughts. Some of you sent individual photos, others led stripy sock campaigns in your workplace. Some helped with the initial research for the campaign, others were ‘social media warriors’ on the day. 

A concerted effort from diverse stakeholders

The campaign stands out as a huge concerted effort. There were different stakeholders with different careers, different strengths and different reasons for supporting. It made me think of the comparison of how rare diseases are each unique and they are numerous, but when grouped together teaching becomes feasible. The rare community is wonderfully diverse but together can achieve incredible things! 

Shout out to our partnerships and sponsors!

Last but definitely not least, I wanted to give a shout out to Mearns & Pike, the fab healthcare PR team who helped us create and run this year’s campaign. They kindly provided support on a part pro-bono-basis. They coined the term ‘Learn Your Stripes’ and ran with it. They produced social media videos, liaised with press, influencers and healthcare teams. They even got us onto TikTok! 

Another big thank you to our friends at emotive, who provide us with long-term, ongoing pro-bono support. Emotive did their usual creative wizardry and magicked up all the beautiful digital and printed assets you saw during the campaign. 

We were also fortunate to receive sponsorship from Medscape Education Global, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Amicus Therapeutics, Kyowa Kirin, Orchard Therapeutics, Sobi UK & Ireland, Takeda UK & Ireland and pRxEngage.

Thanks again to all of you who supported Rare Disease Day 2026!