The campaign runs until World Psoriasis Day on October 29th, when the completed island will be unveiled.

The International Federation of Psoriatic Disease Associations (IFPA) is launching a campaign to build the IFPA Island on the Nintendo video game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

This new campaign is called “Explore Psoriatic Disease Together” and calls on the psoriatic disease community to help build out the island together as a journey through the condition. It aims to create an everlasting Dream Island within the Animal Crossing game that can be explored by gamers with psoriatic disease and players from the general public who want to learn more about psoriatic disease. When completed, it will feature six modules that each cover a particular aspect of managing psoriatic disease. The campaign runs until World Psoriasis Day on October 29th, when the completed island will be unveiled.

IFPA have enlisted the help of Joel Nelson (Joel versus Arthritis) to lead the creation of the island. Joel is an award-winning arthritis and psoriasis patient leader, content creator, and expert in 'Lived Experience', as well as being an avid gamer.Throughout the campaign, Joel will be broadcasting a show each week on his Twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/joelvsarthritis) to share live progress of the build and discuss the key topics in psoriatic disease that are being covered in each section of the island. 

This begins with three live shows that are being broadcast from EADV in Milan on Tuesday September 6th (8am EDT/1pm BST/2pm CET) and Friday September 9th (first show at 4am EDT/9am BST/10am CET and second show at 8am EDT/1pm BST/2pm CET), which can be accessed from Joel’s Twitch channel. 

These shows will follow the development and build of the Medical Zone of the island, with input from psoriatic disease experts attending EADV. The Medical Zone will provide education and insights about diagnosis, management, healthcare professional support and medications.Following EADV, Joel will be broadcasting weekly until World Psoriasis Day, featuring a different section of the island each week, and covering topics including family support, relationships, intimacy, mental wellbeing, physical activity and support for patients.

“I am passionate about using my story and experiences to help others affected by psoriatic disease and I see this as an essential part of advocacy for people affected by psoriatic disease,” says Mr. Nelson. It is critical to have places where lived experiences of psoriatic disease can be shared and where people affected by psoriatic disease can connect with the psoriatic community and obtain much needed peer support. The IFPA Island on Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an exciting new way to do this that has not been done before in psoriatic disease and will be particularly valuable for young people. There are many young people out there who do not know how and where to access important information about psoriatic disease and we hope that this island can help them with their condition by providing the answers and support they need.”

Frida Dunger Johnsson, Executive Director, IFPA adds, “We want to find new ways to engage with young people and believe that engaging via video games is a novel and exciting approach. We need to provide more forums for young people to share their experiences and learn from each other about living with psoriatic disease. This approach is at the cutting edge of patient engagement and advocacy and we believe we have an opportunity to reach young people affected by psoriatic disease in the forums and platforms they use already. We are proud as an organization to be leading the way and are excited about building a long-term way to engage young people.”

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available exclusively for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite systems.

If you want to support the build, contact IFPA at info@ifpa-pso.com and if you want to follow the progress of the build, you can connect in game or watch Joel’s shows via Twitch each week at https://www.twitch.tv/joelvsarthritis.