Spectrum, a health and science communications firm, presented the results of a global awareness campaign at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s fourth annual National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media on August 18. The "Find the Other 150" campaign "found” 24 percent more children with a rare, fatal, and rapid aging disease called Progeria, a disease affecting less than .01% of the world’s population.
In creating and carrying out the “Find the Other 150” campaign for The Progeria Research Foundation, Spectrum collaborated with partner firms in 10 countries through GLOBALHealthPR, the largest independent public relations group dedicated to health communications worldwide. Reaching out to media and medical professionals with culturally relevant and strategic communications methods, as well as using online tools such as the campaign website (www.findtheother150.org), the awareness generated more than 20 inquiries to PRF about potential children with Progeria in six months. From these inquiries, 13 new children with Progeria were identified from seven countries, increasing the total number of children known to have Progeria worldwide to 67 (a 24 percent increase).