The South African Allergic Rhinitis Working Group was formed by interested members of South Africa's Allergy, Paediatric and ENT communities. We met together for the first time in 1995 and the first 'Consensus Statement' was published in the South African Medical Journal in 1996. This was the first step that was taken to bring to the attention of medical practitioners in South Africa the importance of diagnosing and managing patients with Allergic Rhinitis, and the huge impact this disease has on quality of life.

Early international guests to the SAARWG include Prof Valerie Lund and Professors John and Gill Warner. UP has been represented by Robin Green and Prof Humphrey Lewis over most of the last 20 years.

Since then and over the last 20 years the Group has met regularly to consider new epidemiological, diagnostic, therapeutic and associated disease strategies and a number of Guidelines/Consensus documents have been published. Eight such statements have been published in the SAMJ, SAFP or CACI journals.

The group has seen faces come and go and has over the years given doctor, pharmacy and nurses lectures, lectures at congresses and met with stakeholders to highlight our mandate.

We are now 21 years old and the group is as strong as ever. We look forward to a time when Allergic Rhinitis is taken seriously by patients, doctors and funders alike and nobody has a bad nights sleep because of a blocked nose.

Join us in making uncontrolled Allergic Rhinitis an historical fact.