Did you know there are 3.5 million people in the UK alone that are affected by a rare disease?
This year’s Rare Disease Day will take place on Saturday 28 February 2026. The theme for this year is Equity.
For people with rare diseases, such as Behçet’s, equity means having social opportunities, non-discrimination in education and work, and fair access to health, social care, diagnosis and treatment. Read more about this year’s theme here on the Rare Disease Day website.
If you’d like to get involved in this year’s activities, here are a few ways you can join in, some of which only take a few minutes:
- Share your experiences of Behçet’s on your social media on the day. It could be a video, image, blog post or just a sentence or two to describe your experiences. When sharing anything on social media for Rare Disease Day, remember to tag us @BehcetsUK so that we see your posts. Use the hashtags #RareEquity #RareDiseaseDay and/or #RareDiseaseDay2026.
- On the day we will be sharing a few posts about Behçet’s on our Instagram and Facebook and we’d really appreciate it if you could give us a share and/or a like.
- Take a look at the advocacy pack by the Genetic Alliance which is full of ideas on how to use your voice to build an equitable future for everyone in the rare conditions community. You can download their social media assets to use, or print out their flyers.
- The Rare Disease Day official social media posts and banners are also available to download from the international Rare Disease Day website here.
- Wear a Behçet’s UK pin badge, or use your Behçet’s tote bag, and start a conversation with those around you about Behçet’s. Order official Behçet’s UK merchandise from our website to help raise both awareness and funds for Behçet’s UK.
- Join in with the Global Chain of Lights and #LightUpForRare
Thank you for your help! If you have any queries, or if you would like to let us know your plans for Rare Disease Day, email us at info@behcetsuk.org