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Add your name to current campaigns for better lupus diagnosis, coverage and care. Contact us to be notified when the next petition opens.
Notify meAdvocacy & policy
Our voices belong in every conversation about healthcare
Lupus and other autoimmune rheumatic diseases must be recognised not simply as individual medical conditions, but as an African public health and health equity issue.
Why this matters
Policy decides who gets diagnosed, and who gets treated
The impact of lupus reaches families, workplaces, communities and national health systems. Unequal access to diagnosis, treatment, social protection and specialist care continues to place a disproportionate burden on people living with chronic autoimmune diseases.
Most of these gaps are not medical mysteries. They are decisions: what a health insurance scheme covers, whether a medicine is on an essential medicines list, whether a district hospital can refer to a rheumatologist, whether a patient organisation is invited to the table.
That is why advocacy sits at the centre of our work rather than at the edge of it.
Systems should not simply be designed for patients but shaped with them.
LFA engages with national health bodies, including stakeholder meetings with the Social Health Authority, and works with clinical, media and civil society partners to keep lupus visible in health policy conversations.
What we advocate for
- Early diagnosis
- Affordable treatment
- Access to essential medicines
- Health insurance coverage
- Patient-centred care
- Mental health support
- Recognition of lupus and autoimmune conditions
- Meaningful participation of patients in health policy
You deserve care. Your circumstances should not silence your voice.
Take action
Add your voice
Advocacy works when it is not only staff doing it. Here are four things you can do, whether or not you live with lupus.
Write to your representative
Ask your county or national representative what is being done to ensure lupus diagnosis and medicines are accessible and covered.
Get our templateJoin an advocacy campaign
Become a member and take part in campaign actions, stakeholder meetings and awareness drives across our chapters.
Join LFAShare our campaign
Visibility is advocacy. Sharing a story or a fact with your own network reaches people we never could.
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