For the past four years, October 20 means so much more to those familiar with mast cell diseases – specifically Mastocytosis, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and Hereditary Alpha Tryptasemia (HaT).
The Mastocytosis and Mast Cell Diseases Awareness Day aims to raise awareness for the need for better treatments, accurate diagnostics, research and of course, to bring awareness of these disorders that can range from benign to life-threatening. We hope that this day will lift the hopes of mast cell patients.
2021 Awareness Day Social Media Kit
This year we have developed an International Mastocytosis & Mast Cell Diseases Awareness Day social media kit that you can use to help raise awareness about mast cell diseases during the upcoming international Mast Cell and Mastocytosis Awareness Day taking place on October 20, 2021.
Download the 2021 Awareness Day social media kit – we have developed a set for Facebook and one for Instagram – both are located within this .zip file. Within you will find six different types of content. Within the information images, we have provided two designs and each design has one option with a link to this website and one option without:
- Countdown images
- Today is Awareness Day (x 2 + an animated image)
- Information images explaining: what are Mast Cells, what is Mastocytosis, what is MCAS, what is HaT and paediatric information
- Images detailing some of the impacts MCD have on people’s lives
- Local support – how to find support
- Some blank images for you to use to make your own campaign
Share your recognition and awareness-raising activities on social media with the below hashtags and be sure to tag and follow us on Facebook and Instagram – be sure to use the following hashtags in your post to help us find them:
#MCDday #MCAS #mastocytosis #MCAD #HaT #KnowYourMastCells
Here are some ideas for how you can use these tools:
- Add your logo to the information slides in the white block at the bottom middle of the image
- Share these through your social media channels (email lists, Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, etc.) Consider sending out one per day during the time leading up to October 20.
- Or share them from the International Awareness Day pages to your Group and personal pages – on Facebook – follow us @mmcdawarenessday and on Instagram – follow us @mastcellawarenessday
- Encourage patients and caregivers in your network to share this on their social media channels.
- Contact any doctors or nurses you know who are working with mast cell diseases and ask them to promote these materials to their network (some hospitals and clinics might be willing to send these out, but will need advance notice)
- Reach out to local news stations—television, radio, newspaper, etc.—and provide the materials to them. They may be willing to share the materials and might even want to report on Awareness Day.
You may have other ideas and suggestions. If so, please pass those ideas along to our network of advocacy groups.
Download the Awareness Day logo in 16 languages
Our Awareness Day logo was intentionally crafted to include both “mastocytosis” and “mast cell diseases” in the same size font, for equal representation. The mast cell icon depicted has “receptors” and seems to be spilling its contents during degranulation. The color purple was chosen to represent the color of the stain that researchers use in their slides.
The Awareness day logo is currently available in the following languages: Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian. Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovene and Spanish.
Download the Awareness Day logo.
Share your photos with the International Community
Help us increase Awareness of International Mastocytosis and Mast Cell Diseases Awareness Day and our global mast cell diseases community. Share your photos with us for our Awareness Day Photo Gallery and our Facebook and Instagram accounts. Email us your Awareness Day photos (make sure you seek permission from the people in the photos to share the photos with us).
The Awareness Day Ribbon
The Awareness Day ribbon has dots to represent the spots/hives/rashes that many mast cell patients deal with. The purple color represents the color stain that researchers use to identify mast cells.
Global Support
The Awareness Day Committee is expanding the Global Support page on our website to include support groups from all over the world. To have your support group considered, please send us the details of your group via our contact page. Include the group name, a short description of your purpose, website and social media links and a contact name and email address. Submit your support group for consideration.