International Women's Day

For International Women's Day this year, we thought it would be good to have a round-up of just some of the amazing articles written by women for Juvenile Arthritis Research, some of the interviews and stories by women that we have shared, and some of the amazing young girls who have supported Juvenile Arthritis Research with fundraising and other initiatives too. 

With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) affecting more girls than boys, our JIA stories page reflects this with the stories of some amazing young women and girls who are truly inspirational. 

You can read the stories of Emily, Hollie, Chloe, Kelly, Isabella, Hallie, Amber, Lola, Liz, Sophie, Eilean, Mia, Amelie, Charlotte, Riitaj, and Yasmin and coming very soon another incredibly inspirational woman, Effie. 

Delving even deeper into what life with JIA is like, Sophie, Chloe and Liz shared more for World Arthritis Day. You can also read Sophie's "Week in the Life" here. 

We've had some brilliant articles and interviews with inspirational women, including The Girl with Arthritis, Eilean wrote a fantastic piece with tips for heading to university, and Amber's write-up of her time in Texas as an ambassador for Juvenile Arthritis Research was super. 

On our website, we also include links to interviews with England Netballer Summer Artman and Sylvie Devaney at BBC Sport who both have JIA but have not let JIA stop them from following their dreams. 

We have so many amazing young fundraisers including Hollie, Ellie and Molly, Mia and many more who's fundraising is vital to support our work - thank you! 

And of course, a huge shout-out to our young volunteer Abbie who not only came up with the idea of "A little Box of Hope" support packs to send to those with JIA but also helps to pack and send each box. 

On the science and research side of things, we work alongside some incredible female scientists including Dr Stephanie  Shoop-Worrall. You can read our interview with Stephanie here (If you missed it on International Day of women and girls in science - please do take a moment to read it now - it is truly inspiring!)

We Dr Lola Solebo to thank for the amazing videos on Uveitis that we share as well as Dr Lola sharing her expertise on uveitis when we develop new resources. 

You have probably heard of our #ThinkJIA campaign - the original idea was developed by our volunteer Rebecca who wanted an easy way for people to remember to #ThinkJIA if a child was experiencing joint pain. The idea was further developed and refined with the support of Professor Helen Foster who's work has also influenced the JIA landscape across the globe with the open resources at pmm online including her work on developing pGALS which doctors across the UK and across the world now routinely use for assessing the musculoskeletal system in children and young people. 

Many amazing women have input into the development of our resources, both parents and medical professionals - thank you! 

And our webinar to support families with their mental health and emotional wellbeing uses the expertise of child psychotherapist Chloe Haines. 

So today is a day to celebrate and thank all of these people and so many more in the organisations that we work with worldwide and who have been part of Juvenile Arthritis Research's journey so far. Thank you for everything you do. 

And last, but most certainly not least, ALL of the children and young people that we support and that we exist for.