World Parkinson’s Day 2026 took place over the weekend, and this might have been the biggest one yet. When we co-founded this awareness day back in 1997, who could have predicted it would grow to such a huge global phenomenon?
For the 29th year in a row, 11 April became a day where Parkinson’s became a focal point not just for the Parkinson’s community (after all, every day is World Parkinson’s Day for us) but also for the wider world in general.
In public spaces, on social media, in the press and in community venues across the globe, World Parkinson’s Day 2026 brought people together, to shout loud about Parkinson’s, raising awareness, fundraise for research and charities, share useful information and just spend time together in the name of Parkinson’s.
Here at Parkinson’s Europe, we raised awareness via our Bridge the Care Gap campaign (including a special podcast episode), collecting hundreds of signatures for our Call to Action, and securing support for the campaign from MEPs.
Elsewhere, here are 12 highlights from World Parkinson’s Day 2026 from across the globe:
1. Spark the Night lit buildings up blue around the world
Once again, PD Avengers in the USA masterminded an incredible global “Spark the Night” campaign, with volunteers from over 30 countries contacting their local authorities to ask for landmarks to be lit up blue to raise awareness of Parkinson’s.
From Estonia to Ecuador, Germany to Ghana, Canada to Costa Rica and many more locations across nearly every continent, the world turned blue for Parkinson’s.
Here are three European examples, from Spain, our Slovenian Member Organisation Društvo Trepetlika, and Cardiff Castle in Wales, UK:
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2. Parkinson’s Ireland “A Walk in the Park for Parkinson’s”
Our Member Organisation, Parkinson’s Ireland, organised a whopping 21 walks at various locations across the country for World Parkinson’s Day 2026. “A Walk in the Park for Parkinson’s” saw hundreds of families coming out together to raise awareness and fundraise for Parkinson’s Ireland, with local councillors also showing up to add their support.
3. Parkinson Vereniging conference at Burgers Zoo, Netherlands
Together with Parkinson Nederland, our Member Organisation Parkinson Vereniging hosted an inspiring conference at Burgers’ Zoo at Arnhem in the Netherlands. The day featured a keynote speech from prominent Parkinson’s researcher and neurologist Bas Bloem, helpful sessions on movement, lifestyle and resilience, musical performances and even a scavenger hunt through the zoo so that younger members of the family could come along to get involved and have fun.
4. The 4th Annual Young Parkies Portugal Conference, Lisbon
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Young Parkies Portugal hosted a vibrant conference in Lisbon, bringing together experts, healthcare professionals, researchers, and people with Early-Onset Parkinson’s for two days dedicated to knowledge, communication, and care. The programme included debates and lectures about topics like early-morning off periods and AI & medicine, plus physical activity sessions and chances to connect with fellow people with Parkinson’s.
5. Parkinson i Mi organised lectures, dancing and flowers in Croatia
Once again, our Member Organisation Parkinson i Mi in Croatia hosted multiple events for World Parkinson’s Day 2026, including stalls on Petro Preradović Square in Zagreb, where volunteers handed out tulips (the symbol of Parkinson’s) to raise awareness, useful lectures from neurology experts, vocal exercises and even ballroom dancing sessions. People with Parkinson’s were also given the important opportunity to raise their voice and share their experiences.
6. Solidarity Fest for Parkinson’s, Barcelona
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Associació Catalana per al Parkinson (another of our Member Organisations) hosted “Solidarity Fest For Parkinson”, an awareness-raising festival-style event in Barcelona full of music, dancing and other family-friendly activities like face-painting, craft classes and a table tennis tournament. This vibrant event also included this brilliant performance from ParkinSongs, a local choir for people living with Parkinson’s.
The Catalan association also put on a morning of activities at the Hospital Sant Pau in Barcelona, including expert lectures addressing important issues such as the variations in the ways Parkinson’s affects different genders.
7. “Dogs for Parkinson” solidarity walks in Belgium
All three of our Belgian Member Organisations joined together with our partner AbbVie to collaborate on Dogs for Parkinson, a series of four community dog walks taking place at locations across the country. The events were open to all – people with Parkinson’s, caregivers, or those without a connection to Parkinson’s who just wanted to show their support with their four-legged canine friends.
There are still two events yet to take place in Antwerp and Ghent – find out more information.
8. France Parkinson “Rendre Visible L’Invisible” video
Our French Member Organisation, France Parkinson, released this hard-hitting, powerful video to show the “harsh reality” of living with Parkinson’s. It features a woman experiencing physical manifestations of some of the common symptoms of Parkinson’s, such as her feet sticking to the ground and becoming harder to lift, her body becoming stiff, her gait faltering, leading her eventually to fall over. The video ends with the woman seemingly stuck inside her own body and mind.
France Parkinson released the video because they believe that – despite almost 300,000 people in France living with Parkinson’s – the seriousness of the condition is being under-estimated by the general public, saying:
“For France Parkinson, recognising the seriousness of Parkinson’s disease is an essential prerequisite for it to be taken seriously by both the public and government authorities.”
9. “No Soy Parkinson” campaign, Spain
Our Member Organisation Federación Española de Parkinson in Spain released a high-impact campaign called “No Soy Parkinson” (“I am not Parkinson’s”) shining a light on discrimination faced by people with Parkinson’s. The campaign uses powerful storytelling in videos featuring four people living with Parkinson’s (including rock climber Jordi Cruz), who talk frankly about their experiences of facing prejudice from others due to a lack of compassion or understanding about the condition.
10. Cupcakes for Parkinson’s event, Parkinson’s Africa
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Part of Parkinson’s Africa’s campaign for World Parkinson’s Day 2026 included a friendly gathering at a bakery in Lagos, Nigeria, where participants were encouraged to come along wearing blue for Parkinson’s awareness in order to receive a blue cupcake. This was a great way of engaging with the local community to raise awareness, and the turnout was enthusiastic, as the photos above show.
11. Parkinson’s India celebrates 25 years of making a difference
The Indian organisation Parkinson’s and Movement Disorder Society marked World Parkinson’s Day 2026 by releasing a video celebrating their 25th anniversary, telling the story of how they were began as a small group and steadily grew to over a dozen support centres across the country, helping over 40,000 people both in person and online.
12. Screening of “La Vida de a Ratos”, Venezuela
Venezuelan organisation Parkinson Caracas marked World Parkinson’s Day with an open-air screening of new film La Vida de a Ratos (Vivir Con Parkinson) [“Life in Moments (Living with Parkinson’s)”], which tells the emotional journey of Argentine actor Javier Lombardo, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the peak of his career. Before the film, neurologist Dr Isaac Mosquera gave an introductory talk about Parkinson’s.
Other highlights from World Parkinson’s Day 2026
The Movers and Shakers podcast in the UK also recorded a special live episode on World Parkinson’s Day 2026, where they launched their Voice campaign. Our partners Abbott launched a virtual Parkinson’s art exhibition, and we also contributed to our partner Bial’s new Parkinson’s Dialogue campaign.
Next year will be the 30th anniversary of World Parkinson’s Day – so expect campaigns to be bigger and better than ever!
