Moving Forward in Belgium

Written by the Moving Forward Team on January 9th 2023

To close a very busy year in the best possible way, the Moving Forward project has expanded and started to operate in Belgium in December. This is a small but complex country with a long history and great expertise of caring for those impacted by HD.  

The Moving Forward team has been working in close collaboration with the two HD Associations that exist in Belgium, the Huntington Liga, which serves the region of Flanders and the Ligue Huntington Francophone Belge, which serves the region of Wallonia. Both organizations provide support to HD families living in Brussels according to their native language.

Charlotte Didier and Olivier Graf are bringing new energy to these two Belgian HD organizations. Together with the Moving Forward team and members of their associations, they have been extremely active in discussing and planning the best ways to reach out, inform and engage the younger generations of HD families in their country. Similarly to what we have done in Russia and in Spain, we will start by assessing the specific needs of the HD community in Belgium.

We are particularly interested in understanding what the younger generations from families impacted by HD want from the national associations in Belgium. We also want to learn about the experiences of the Belgian community regarding research participation, as this is one of the main focuses of the Moving Forward project. And we are also taking this opportunity to find what contents could be interesting to include in the sessions dedicated to the Belgian families at the next EHA Conference that will take place in Blankenberge – Belgium in October 2023.

Therefore, we have designed a short survey, which is available in Flemish and French, two of the official languages of Belgium, and will be circulated online over the next weeks. If you are from an HD family, you live in Belgium and you want your voice to be heard, please use this opportunity to share your experiences and thoughts!

You can do it either in Flemish or French:

All the information collected, which is completely anonymous, will be extremely useful to understand what the main needs, worries and wishes of the younger generations living in Belgium are and to help us plan and implement country-specific actions that can be truly meaningful for the local HD community.

The European Huntington Association and the Moving Forward team could not be happier with this new collaboration and have great expectations for all the fresh, original and multilingual teamwork that lies ahead!