International Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day is a global event to inform the public, policy makers, regulators, biopharmaceutical representatives, researchers, and health care professionals about myotonic dystrophy.

Myotonic dystrophy - abbreviated DM - is a genetic neuromuscular disorder, is often called the most variable disease in medicine because of the range of symptoms and body systems it can affect. Some individuals experience mild symptoms, but many face serious challenges that require whole families to step up, to advocate, and often to make sacrifices. Individuals with DM require highly trained, multidisciplinary medical teams, genetic testing to confirm the diagnosis, robust systems of support, laws and policies to ease access to care, and medical development to create treatments and cures that currently do not exist.

Raising awareness of myotonic dystrophy will lead to improved medical care, diagnostic screening, drug development, and policymaking. Increased funding for myotonic dystrophy research will improve health outcomes, reduce disability, and increase life expectancy for individuals living with the disease and their families, and could lead to advances in similar diseases like Fragile X syndrome and Huntington?s disease.