World Conjoined Twins Day 2024: Theme, Awareness

World Conjoined Twins Day 2024

You must have seen twins in your life, but do you know that every year the whole world celebrates the day of twins as World Conjoined Twins Day. Today we are going to discuss this in detail.

Have you ever thought about what it is like to share your body with another person yet you have your own dreams and aspirations? This case is seen with conjoined twins. For them they have a challenge as well as a source of continuous strength. This mostly gives them the strength to face life challenges but the situation is not same for every conjoined.

We see around 1 in 50,000 to 200,000 babies^[1] every year which is a very rare event. But unfortunately 60% of conjoined twins fail to survive. ^[2]Only 35% make it the very first day. Luckily the modern medical equipment and treatments have given a second chance to these babies. November 24 therefore is recognized as the World Conjoined Twins Day. It is a day that aims to raise awareness and encourages the strength to be more attentive for these individuals and be more active for them. 

On November 24, the focus is to spread and learn information about the conjoined twins. Wondering people to show support for these individuals and see what all progress has been made. The complete focus is to make lives for them easy and give them a better living. It was started by the United Nations in 2023. This effort gives a chance to appreciate and understand the challenges conjoined twins have. 

This day comes with three major aims:

• Spreading Awareness

• Inclusivity

• Medical Equipments Need

In this article we will be exploring about conjoined twins. Also we will focus on how modern medical equipment is helping them in having a great life ahead. 

November 24: Why This Date?

As this condition is rare and uncommon just like that the date 24 is chosen carefully and holds a deep meaning. It basically represents the importance and need of the conjoined twins bond. Yes they are physically connected with each other but they have their own individual personality, aspirations and needs. Main focus of this date is to come together and work together worldwide and help individuals like conjoined twins. Showing the need for corporation and unity exactly like the connection conjoined twins have. 

Theme for World Conjoined Twins Day 2024:

This year’s theme for World Conjoined Twins Day is “Together as One: Celebrating Unity and Individuality.” Basically this shows how they live and spend their lives with unity and individuality as well. Unity here defines that the physical connection they have can help two individuals survive with courage. While individuality defines that even though they are attached physically, they have their own individual personality and aspirations. But along with this theme also represents a large message for people that we all have to respect and celebrate both that brings us all together. 

Conjoined Twins: Understanding What it is?

The first question that comes to every person’s mind who isn’t aware is what are conjoined twins? They are identical twins who are physically attached to each other. Now how this happens – it happens when a fertilized egg tries to separate in two embryos but fails to do so. This happens on the 13th day of conceiving. Now we will talk about the types of conjoined twins. So we have different types of conjoined twins. It all depends on where their body is joined. 

1. Thoracopagus: Joined at the chest, often sharing a heart.
2. Craniopagus: Joined at the skull and may share parts of the brain.
3. Omphalopagus: Joined at the belly, sometimes sharing organs like the liver or intestines.
4. Pygopagus: Joined at the lower back or pelvis.
5. Ischiopagus: Joined at the pelvis, sometimes sharing legs or other structures.
6. Parapagus: Joined side by side along the torso.

Although they are rare and very few survive, we can not neglect these individuals. Therefore such steps have been taken in order to make them feel equal and supported. 

What are we all doing to Help Conjoined Twins?

The best thing is people around the world are coming forward to help individuals like conjoined twins. Such steps include the various medical programs around the globe. One such effort is seen by Saudi as they have made programs for the conjoined twins such as Saudi Conjoined Twins Program. They offer separation surgeries with the help of funding they received and till now they have successfully done 50 surgeries globally. How great it feels when we read such news that people are doing as much effort as they can globally. 

The Real Case Story:

There are testimonials also like a brazilian twins who were joined at the head were separated successfully in 2020. This surgery was completed in 27 hours. The best part about thi surgery were the advanced virtual reality equipment and technology that were used in the operation. Source^[3]

Now you must be wondering if it is ethically right to touch and separate an individual that has been created that way. So here comes the deciding part and it is quite a daunting task as well. It is not always this easy whether to separate them or not. Yes it does have the life risk of the individuals. They come with a lot more questions like what kind of life these individuals will be living afterwards. And yes it is not easy to make decisions on behalf of young individuals. This concludes that this whole procedure is not ea. Be it the surgery or taking the decision to the surgery it is not easy.

What Challenges the Conjoined Twins Face?

There is a list of challenges these individuals have to go through. To begin with, firstly they have to bear this social stigma that the majority of people don’t understand what their condition is and some fear about this condition. This makes them feel isolated.  Secondly for such individuals finding the right schools is also a task. They might not feel included as life is already tough for them. We still don’t have such special schools for them considering the fact that they are very rare as well. This gives them a hard time to get an education. Lastly the medical procedure and surgery can be very expensive also. This tells us that not every family can afford it. Giving us an idea that here also the survival is difficult for conjoined twins. 

Fortunately, in such situations the government and various NGOs come forward and help such cases by different means. They pay for surgeries and medical care. They show interest and create public campaigns focusing on educating people about conjoined twins. Eventually reducing the stigma with it.

Happy World Conjoined Twins Day:

Lastly, World Conjoined Twins Day makes sure that it is important to take care of such individuals with unity. By understanding more about their lifestyle, challenges and needs we can help them by giving them a great lifestyle. The need to focus on medical equipment is also very needed as we have solutions for such conditions. Let us spread more about this condition, tell people how normal it is. And support conjoined twins in any way possible.