Versus Arthritis is the UK's largest

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

dedicated to supporting people with arthritis. It was launched in September 2018, following the legal merger of the two leading arthritis charities in the UK, Arthritis Research UK and Arthritis Care in November 2017. According to research, 10 million people in the UK are affected by arthritis. It affects almost three in ten men and women over the age of 55. Versus Arthritis works to help them to remain active by funding research, campaigning and providing information for patients, the public and health professionals.

History

Arthritis Care

Arthur Mainwaring Bowen founded the British Rheumatic Association (BRA) on 1 February 1947 at the age of 25. By October, the association had 554 prospective members. Bowen’s awareness of the needs of people with arthritis began when, at the age of 19, he was diagnosed with

ankylosing spondylitis Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of arthritis characterized by long-term inflammation of the joints of the spine typically where the spine joins the pelvis. Occasionally areas affected may include other joints such as the shoulders or hi ...

. Meeting other young people with arthritis during long stays in hospital opened Bowen’s eyes to the isolation they often felt. As well as his charity work, Bowen had a career as a qualified solicitor. He married Helen Patricia in 1953. Together, they had one son and one daughter. Bowen died in his home on 31 January 1980. By this time, the charity had grown into a national organisation with a wide range of services for people with arthritis and was renamed Arthritis Care. In that year, Arthritis News was published for the first time. It ran to 12 pages and had an initial print-run of 35,000.

Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...

became president of Arthritis Care in 2003. At the time of the merger, Arthritis Care was the UK's largest arthritis charity and ran four national offices (in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) with activities coordinated by an office in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The CEO was Judi Rhys.

Arthritis Research UK

Arthritis Research UK had been founded as the Empire Rheumatism Council in 1936, changed its name to Arthritis Research Campaign, before changing again to Arthritis Research UK in 2010 as part of a drive to raise the profile of arthritis research and the organisation itself. It also reduced the potential for confusion with a plethora of other charitable groups using the initials ARC. Dr Stewart Adams, discoverer of Ibuprofen, opened the Arthritis Research UK Pain Centre in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, which aims to understand pain and to come up with more effective ways of dealing with it.

Similar organizations

Arthritis Foundation The Arthritis Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to addressing the needs of people living with arthritis in the United States. There are more than 50 million adults and 300,000 children living with arthritis, the nation's ...

- USA * Arthritis Australia - Australia * The Swedish Rheumatism Association - Sweden
The Arthritis Society
- Canada
Arthritis Consumer Experts
- Canada

External links

Official website

References

{{authority control Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Arthritis organizations 1936 establishments in the United Kingdom Biomedical research foundations Chesterfield, Derbyshire Health charities in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Derbyshire Research in the United Kingdom Science and technology in Derbyshire Scientific organizations established in 1936