Equity for M.E./CFS

We are calling for the UK Governments to commit the same level of research funding and recognition to M.E. as we have seen with Long Covid.

Hundreds of thousands of children and adults with M.E. have been ignored for too long. Now we are seeing people with Long Covid face similar symptoms, along with the problems people with M.E. have experienced for decades – ignorance, injustice and neglect from the Government meant to support them.

Join us in our demand that the UK governments ensure equity for people with M.E. Those with M.E. have been ignored for a long time and we know that for many people, M.E. can follow a virus. We are now seeing people with Long Covid demonstrating similar symptoms to ME and many are faced with the problems people with M.E. have experienced for decades – ignorance, injustice & neglect.

Around 250,000 adults and children have M.E. in the UK and that number is likely to be an underestimate and it is growing. Currently:

Less than 4% of people with M.E. are able to access specialist M.E. services due to a lack of provision
Less than 0.03% of research grants from the UK government are awarded to M.E. research

Action for M.E. believes that this neglect of people with M.E. is unacceptable.

There are 385,000 people already at risk of developing M.E. as they fail to recover from Long Covid after a year. While we are pleased to see considerable funding for research and healthcare support for people with Long Covid, it has shone a light on the lack of investment into M.E. and the lack of services and treatment available.

The petition will close on Friday 26 November 2021. We will use this petition to raise awareness and hope to deliver the petition to Downing Street, in addition to the devolved Parliaments.

After you have signed the petition you have the option to sign up to receive updates about our work or join our Act4ME Network. We have included this here in response to feedback from people with M.E. to make it easier to participate in different ways and avoid having to go to multiple pages on our website.

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* 1. By entering your name below you will be signing the petition. We need your name and postcode in order to validate the petition. All other information is optional.

We the undersigned call for the UK Governments to commit the same level of research funding and recognition to M.E. as we have seen with Long Covid.

All information you provide is held securely and in accordance with our privacy policy. The information you provide will be held securely in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. We will only ever contact you if you provide your consent to do so.

Name

Postcode

E-mail address (optional)

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* 2. OPTIONAL - We would like to send information about our efforts to raise awareness of the illness, our research, fundraising, and the support we offer to improve the lives of people affected by M.E. If you are happy to be contacted please tick the methods you prefer.

E-mail

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* 3. OPTIONAL - Our Act4ME Network fights for an end to the ignorance, injustice and neglect faced by those with M.E./CFS.

How does this work?

We contact the network by e-mail once a month with a suggested action you can take. This may include:

·         responding to a survey which will inform our work

·         contacting your elected representative

·         attending a virtual rally or event

·         lobbying an individual or organisation on social media

We believe that by working together our voice will be stronger and we can push for real change to benefit people with M.E./CFS.

Do you want to join the Network?

Yes

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* 4. If you have any ideas or feedback, we would love to hear from you. We will not respond to all individual comments but please be assured anything you say will inform our work.