Finalist
Don’t Turn Your Back On It (Global)
with support from Biosector 2
Summary of work
Imagine having your whole life in front of you. At 25 you have a promising career. You are active, sociable – life is sweet! At 30 back pain starts having a negative effect; constant pain, lack of sleep, inactivity and repeat visits to doctors with no satisfactory answers. 10 years pass and your quality of life has deteriorated, relationships are strained and your career has stalled, with no accurate diagnosis in sight.
This describes life for someone with inflammatory back pain (IBP). A condition affecting 1.5 million adults in the UK alone, taking on average 10 years to diagnose.
Often mistaken for injury-related pain, IBP sufferers either delay visiting a doctor or, because IBP is not top of mind for HCPs, they struggle to obtain correct diagnosis and management.
These delays and misperceptions drove AbbVie to build the global expert-led, multichannel awareness initiative, Don’t Turn Your Back On It, to change behaviour, drive diagnosis and ultimately improve the lives of people with IBP.
Judges’ comments
This multimedia, multi-country programme addressed a clear unmet need and resulted in a 36% increase in the number of people diagnosed with axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA).
