National Arthritis Awareness Program

The National Arthritis Awareness Program (NAAP) is a Canadian initiative co-led by Arthritis Consumer Experts (ACE) and The Arthritis Research Centre of Canada (ARC) and a collaborative effort with leading arthritis community partners. The program was launched in the fall of 2009 and originally co-led by ACE and The Arthritis Society.

Its English slogan is Arthritis is cured! (if you want it), and in French Guerir l’arthrite! (la solution vous revient).

The NAAP was developed in recognition that arthritis is among the top three chronic diseases in Canada, with 1 out 6 adults and 1 out of a thousand children diagnosed with one of the more than 100 types of arthritis. Arthritis can be devastating, disabling, sometimes fatal, and there is no cure yet. Arthritis hurts individuals, families, and the economy by costing more than $4 billion annually in healthcare expenses and lost work days.

The creators of the NAAP developed the awareness program to generate conversation and raise awareness about arthritis, intending to inspire Canadians to advocate for Canada to invest in more research (one of their early catch phrase's was a plea for Canadians to “stop taking ‘no cure’ for an answer”) and to have provincial formularies reimburse the cost of arthritis medications.

Because early detection and diagnosis of arthritis is important to reduce pain and prevent irreversible damage to the joints, the NAAP was created, in part, to raise awareness with healthcare professionals. Among other projects to help in this, an arthritis point-of-practice tool was developed to help primary care physicians diagnose arthritis and become more aware of the disease. A free healthcare app, called ArthritisID PRO became available in 2011 to serve the same purpose, but with additional features such as explaining how to treat arthritis, videos that demonstrate arthritis exams, and Continuing Medical Education credits.

Another aspect of the NAAP is to inform patients about potential resources, which include online and in-person support networks and informational websites. Many of the resources can be accessed through a consumer version of the free app, called ArthritisID, which is meant to help people determine if they have a type of arthritis and provide them with ways to manage their disease.

In April 2012, the program developed a blog-type website that directs readers to ongoing arthritis news; video interviews of people who live with arthritis, representatives from leading arthritis organizations, and medical professionals; and personal stories from regular blog contributors.