News - 11 Mar `20World Vitiligo Day HQ in Serbia is going virtual

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World Vitiligo Day 2020 international headquarters continue its journey and move from Vietnam to Serbia, under the firm leadership of Prof. Ivana Binic.

Sadly, the tenth annual WVD celebrations will not go ahead, as planned. 

Three months into the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, countries around the world are grappling with the challenges of a full-blown global pandemic. Italy has fell off radar as a travel destination earlier this week, sweeping restrictions on public events have been imposed across Europe. (UPDATED: A State of Emergency declared in Serbia). This, of course, is a domino effect. Scientific models predict the peak of epidemic across Eastern Europe in May-June. 

After carefully weighing the emerging facts and projections, the VRF Board and WVD 2020 President have made the difficult decision that this year’s World Vitiligo Day main celebrations in Serbia will be an online-only, virtual event.  

WVD-2020 USA organizers are evaluating the situation for how to outwit this virus.

In the coming weeks, we will tap into the innovative and agile spirit of our multi-talented community to explore virtual meeting options. We will share additional information with you very soon, and appreciate your patience as we work through the changes.

And given what we’ve learned we think the worst is unfortunately yet to come. We are not trying to be alarmist and we think it’s important to try to be thoughtful in all matters. We do not say this because we want more eyeballs/clicks.

  • We think many more people are sick and inadvertently carrying the virus.
  • We request that everyone take precautionary measures now: aggressive hygiene (wash one’s hands, avoid touching one’s face) along with social distancing and avoiding crowded places.
  • We suggest wider use of a home phototherapy with remote supervision from a qualified vitiligo specialist as a standard treatment approach. 

Our sympathies are with those affected in China, Italy, and all around the world.

Vitiligo Research Foundation