VIENNA MEDICAL DOCTORS´ BALL GOES CHARITY
A special feature of the Vienna Medical Doctors' Ball is its traditional charitable character. Since 2013, the net proceeds have been donated to a charitable organization. Most recently, in 2024, 97,750 euros were handed over to the "StoP districts without partner violence" project of the AÖF association, Autonomous Austrian Women's Shelters.In 2024, the WE&ME Foundation, a remarkable initiative that supports research into ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) and the well-being of those affected, will be supported.
ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) is a severe multisystem disease that often occurs for the first time after a viral illness (e.g. Epstein-Barr virus, Sars-CoV-2 virus, herpes viruses, influenza viruses).
Symptoms and effects:
ME/CFS sufferers experience severe fatigue, pain, exercise intolerance and sleep disorders. The immune and endocrine systems can also be affected.
- The number of ME/CFS sufferers is thought to have doubled after the Covid pandemic.
- ME/CFS usually occurs between the ages of 18 and 40.
- Children can also develop the disease.
- Around 70 percent of all ME/CFS sufferers are women.
- 60 to 70 percent of ME/CFS sufferers are unable to work, 25 percent are even confined to their home or bed.
- The severe exhaustion is often misinterpreted as depression.
- The core symptom is post-exertional malaise (PEM), which occurs primarily after physical, but also after mental exertion.
