The Migraine Trust, the UK’s leading charity for migraine sufferers, has launched an urgent appeal for support. The charity is calling on the public to help fund its work in 2023, which will include new initiatives to support the one in ten children and young people on the Isle of Wight living with the condition.
Lack of knowledge and support in schools
A recent report by The Migraine Trust, titled Dismissed for too long: The impact of migraine on children and young people, highlighted the lack of knowledge and support in schools for young people with migraine.
The charity has found that many children with the condition feel they are not receiving the right healthcare and that their education and wellbeing are being affected.
New support resource
To address this, The Migraine Trust launched a new Website section for children and young people in September.
The charity has plans to reach and support even more children and young people in 2023, including an outreach programme to schools.
Music: Helping people struggling with this debilitating condition
Rob Music, chief executive of the charity, said,
“Migraine can have a huge impact on a person’s life, and this impact is often even greater for children as it disrupts their education, social lives, and can make them feel different or isolated.
“We want to ensure that every young person living with migraine on the Isle of Wight and beyond is able to enjoy their childhood fully and to achieve this, we are grateful to everyone who donates to our appeal.
“You will help us support children with migraine in 2023 and continue our wider work of funding research, changing attitudes towards migraine, and helping people struggling with this debilitating condition.”
Show your support
If you would like to support The Migraine Trust’s appeal, you can donate via the Just Giving Page.
More about migraine
Migraine is a complex condition with a wide variety of symptoms. For many people the main feature is a painful headache. Other symptoms include disturbed vision, sensitivity to light, sound and smells, feeling sick and vomiting.
The symptoms will vary from person to person and individuals may have different symptoms during different attacks. Attacks may differ in length and frequency too.
Migraine attacks usually last from 4 to 72 hours. Migraine can have an enormous impact on work, family and social lives.
- Migraine is the third most common disease in the world (behind dental caries and tension-type headache) with an estimated global prevalence of 14.7% (that’s around 1 in 7 people).
- According to NHS England, approximately 10 million people in the UK live with migraine.
- Migraine affects three-times as many women as men, with this higher rate being most likely hormonally-driven.
- Migraine affects one in ten children.
- Research suggests that 3,000 migraine attacks occur every day for each million of the general population. This equates to over 190,000 migraine attacks every day in the UK.
Image: francisco gonzalez under CC BY 2.0
