National Alopecia Association

National Alopecia Association (NAA) was established in 2010 in Lithuania. It unites people with any Alopecia form.

Alopecia, also known as hair loss or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from the head or body. The condition is thought to be a systemic autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own anagen hair follicles and suppresses or stops hair growth. Term Alopecia includes not just temporary hair loss, such as due to chemotherapy, but also permanent condition, when hair doesn't re-grow either partly (only head area), or completely (head, face or whole body) for the rest of the life (alopecia areata/totalis/universalis).

Alopecia affects 1-2 percent of population. It is more common among infants, children and young adults. It is not contagious and affects any social class, men and women. Usually the condition appears before the age of 36. Due to a broad variety of this condition, NAA came up with following strategic goals:

1. To integrate and reduce social isolation. To accomplish such goal NAA works on:

1.1 Development of community for people affected by Alopecia and securing their safety;

1.2 Encouragment of various self-help tools: sharing useful information about esthetic desicions due to changing appearance, medical treatments, psychological and social challenges;

2.  To create compensation system on the national level. Using various foreign guidelines, NAA tries to achieve that people affected by alopecia would get compensated for certain aestehical (wigs, permanent facial procedures), psychosocial (rehab, psychological help), and medical (medication, procedures, effectively treating certain alopecia forms) components.

3. Public awareness - spread the awareness in the communities, minimize social stigma, provide information about available support.

KFF has been supporting NAA since 2013.