India, with a population of 1.4 billion people, has a multichotomous health care delivery system ranging from traditional forms to modern medicines. Awareness of health problems is heavily skewed towards a section of the population and so is the delivery of health care services. This is compounded by the shortage of health care givers and poor penetration of primary care facilities to the corners of our country.

Current focus, which is rightly so, on maternal and child health along with measures to mitigate communicable diseases form the backbone of primary care in our country. In this context, autoimmune rheumatic diseases take a backseat in every aspect of training, identification and referrals.

 An attempt by the Indian Rheumatology Association to increase public awareness of Rheumatological diseases is seeing a silent revolution in the management of Rheumatic diseases which may still have a long way to go.  

This supplementary issue of IRA e- newsletter highlights the evolution of Indian Rheumatology, idea of Rheumatology awareness, action plan execution, primary care Rheumatology, Patient support groups and problems in the tribal population in the North East along with glimpses activities carried out by IRA members in their respective area of practice.