Not money, "just" staff time. Staff time is a scarce resource for the Association, as I have said before. However, Pfizer planned to proceed with this campaign, and the participation of the Association and the other organizations had a dramatic effect on the content of the campaign. We know CFS affects more women than men, and we know that women do not receive the same healthcare attention or belief compared to men. A woman reporting pain to her doctor is generally not treated the same way as a man reporting pain. These co-existing or overlapping conditions have an $80 billion annual impact on our economy. Our hope is that the combined numbers, along with the attention and dollars Pfizer brings, will succeed in getting the attention of lawmakers, press and public. As I said, four US Representatives are participating in the launch event on May 19th - unprecedented in CFS advocacy.
It would seem that with Pfizer's involvement, the focus will be on developing more drugs to treat pain, possibly more effective for
women's pain, which is a symptom and not the most important symptom, of CFS/ME. So, when (and IF) you get "the attention of lawmakers, press and public" what will you do with it?
We really don't need another PILL, as in, here take this pill and go back to work. We need to find the cause and a cure of our disabling symptoms, not another drug to mask them.
I have to wonder about the "four US Representatives participating in the launch event". (Getting Pfizer campaign contributions?) If this is "unprecedented" CFS advocacy, what impression or accurate knowledge are they going to come away with, from a campaign that is focussed on pain, and funded by a drug company?
If CAA had anything to do with getting them involved in this "launch event", I sure hope you got or can get some actual support for parity in funding for CFS/ME
the disease, and not just for some of the less disabling symptoms.
$116 million for malaria (1300 US cases); $5 million for CFS (at least a million UScases) in next year's NIH budget!