It is now 12 years since World Thyroid Day (WTD) was launched by the European Thyroid Association (ETA) and immediately endorsed by the American Thyroid Association (ATA), followed by the Latin America Thyroid Society (LATS), and the Asia Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA). However, this is a very different year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the events and activities that took place annually on this day around the world cannot be held. Thus, while, as always, we commemorate WTD with fervent thoughts and prayers for our patients and for the physicians who tend to them, our thoughts also go to all those who are fighting the threat of COVID-19 and who are, in multiple ways round the globe, trying desperately to deal with the pandemic and the many related issues. 

Meanwhile, our contribution will, needless to say, continue to be the support of our patients, research in the field of the thyroid, monitoring for deficiencies in various iodination programs and in the supply of medications and nutrients to our thyroid patients, and intervening whenever and wherever there is a need.

Even if thyroid patients are not considered at risk for COVID-19, many may have underlying diseases rendering them vulnerable to the virus. Therefore, we ask all our thyroid patients to comply carefully with their doctor’s recommendations.

It is also essential that we all think on a planetary scale — in the sense that humanity as a whole must strive from now on to take far better care of nature and our planet: this issue is a sine qua non, for it is at the root of all our problems. 

The collaboration between all four sister societies, and, most closely, between the ETA and the ATA, has long been, and will remain during these difficult times, a paradigm of unity and solidarity. It is in this same spirit of mutual support that we will prevail so that, in the coming years, we may all come together again to celebrate WTD events with our patients and our colleagues, to commemorate this day — and, having learnt vital lessons of life, with more insight, more courage, and more optimism, and in healthier environments both for our thyroid patients and for all people everywhere.

With hope and with wisdom….
….which is “not a product of schooling but of the lifelong effort to learn and to acquire it”.
(Albert Einstein)

Leonidas Duntas
Secretary of the ETA

Laszlo Hegedüs
President of the ETA