Billboards for Long Covid and MECFS (United States)

All donations to this fundraiser will be used to pay for billboards in the US to raise awareness about Long Covid and ME/CFS as well as demand ongoing funding for biomedical research and clinical trials. Since many Long Covid and ME/CFS patients are too sick to protest for increased funding, billboards can help to inform the public of how debilitating these conditions can be. We hope to generate publicity and gain allies who will advocate for us to counter the narrative that Long Covid and ME/CFS are "mental illness" or have no biological basis.

Some historical context: In 2020, the NIH Recover initiative was funded with 1.2 billion USD to study Long Covid. Unfortunately, the majority of the money was spent on observational studies that did not prioritize patients with multisystemic, debilitating disease and did not generate insight into fundamental disease mechanisms. The historic neglect of Long Covid's sister disease, ME/CFS, is the reason millions of Americans are now suffering with no approved treatment. ME/CFS is estimated to be one of the most underfunded conditions relative to disease burden in the population, and funding has not significantly increased in the last several years even though many Long Covid patients meet the criteria for ME/CFS. The NIH did not engage doctors and researchers who study ME/CFS and other infection-associated illnesses when planning the Recover initiative. Additionally, no ongoing funding for Long Covid has been allocated by the NIH.

We are confident that better public awareness and understanding of Long Covid and ME/CFS as biological diseases will lead to increased funding, greater scientific understanding and treatments that restore quality of life for patients.