In its annual report, the organisation recorded its support for people with 241 different illnesses, and an increase of patients of 40%. Rare diseases affect 30,000 people in Luxembourg. Conditions like muscular diseases or immune deficiencies are defined as rare when they affect less than 5 in 10,000 people, and are often genetic, chronic, evolving and very often untreatable. In 2020, Alan supported 402 patients with 186 illnesses.

Alan, which has been operating for twenty-four years, in its annual presentation also listed a number of activities it offered for the patients it worked with. Aside from providing guidance to families and patients after a diagnostic, and assisting in adapting the career and educational plans of those affected, the NGO and its 54 volunteers published in 2021 the first Luxembourg guide for people living with a rare illness.

The association also organised awareness campaigns such as “Light It Up” and “Héros Invisible” to deconstruct the prejudices around rare diseases. A monthly Walk’n’Talk walking tour for people with reduced mobility was also organised in 2021, as were workshops with animals, swimming activities and relaxation courses. All these contributed to Alan’s goal of combatting isolation for people with rare diseases.

Alan also offered more psycho-social consultations in 2021--they increased by a third--which the organisation credits to “a better knowledge of the Infoline for Rare Diseases in Luxembourg and of the good functioning of the Orientation and Coordination Unit that ALAN co-manages with the medical experts of the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL),” it says in its report.