DEBRA

We are a UK EB charity; a national medical research charity and patient support organisation for anyone in the UK living with an inherited form of EB, their family members, carers, plus healthcare professionals and researchers specialising in [epidermolysis bullosa (EB)](https://www.debra.org.uk/get-support/eb-support-and-resources/epidermolysis-bullosa-eb/). We also provide community support services for people living with acquired EB, known as epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA). The charity was established in 1978 by Phyllis Hilton, whose daughter Debra had EB, as the world’s first EB patient support organisation. DEBRA UK went on to establish DEBRA International, which now runs independently to help establish and support a global network of over 50 [DEBRA patient support organisations](https://www.debra-international.org/find-your-debra-group). In the UK we are the EB patient support organisation with almost 4,000 members. Every year, over 1,000 of our members access our support services. In 2023 we invested almost £3.5m in [EB research](https://www.debra.org.uk/eb-research/), EB community care and support, and [EB specialist healthcare](https://www.debra.org.uk/get-support/eb-support-and-resources/eb-professionals/specialist-eb-healthcare/). We also spent close to £1m to help ensure more people in the UK are aware of EB and of what we do as a charity. With more awareness we hope to secure more support because we need as many people as possible to make our vision of a world where no one suffers with EB a reality. We employ 370 colleagues and are incredibly grateful to be able to count on the support of over 1,000 volunteers who help us run our network of [over 80 charity shops](https://www.debra.org.uk/shop-finder/), which along with our other fundraising activities, provides the revenue we need to provide EB community care and support services for today and to conduct research into effective EB treatments for all types of EB for tomorrow.