The ambassadors of the campaign are singers Anna Wyszkoni and Andrzej Piaseczny and Wroclaw Noble prize-winning writer Olga Tokarczuk.
Specialists agree that loneliness can affect anyone, regardless of their age, education or social status.
According to research conducted in Poland, the problem of loneliness affects more and more persons - during the first wave of coronavirus pandemic, 60% of respondents declared that they felt lonely.
‘We should talk about loneliness because it really hurts and involves many health issues. Some experts say that loneliness can be compared to smoking 15 cigarettes a day,’ said Professor Dariusz Galasiński – a linguist and the head of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Health and Disease at the University of Wroclaw.
Professor Joanna Rymaszewska – a specialist in psychiatry and the head of the Chair of Psychiatry of the Wroclaw Medical University – stressed that the inclination to feel loneliness has a genetic inclination and children suffering from it may have more serious health problems in adulthood.
‘Reduced immunity, higher pressure, less effective coping with any inflammatory conditions – all of this may be a consequence of having felt lonely in childhood,’ she explained.
Lots of events in Wroclaw
During this year, a few dozen housing-estate and municipal events will be held in Wroclaw to combat loneliness.
Proposals of such events have been submitted by kindergartens, schools, cultural and social institutions, NGOs, municipal institutions and companies, etc. The full schedule will include, e.g., a scientific conference on loneliness, a special information campaign, special editions of Kindness Day, Wroclaw Dance, Senior Days or summer picnics. The central point will be a municipal picnic to be held on 27th July, which is the International Day of Lonely People.
