Public Health Awareness: April 2010
The 'Public Health Awareness' segment will be a recurring feature here on the Pulse + Signal blog where we highlight relevant public health focused observances (e.g. cancer awareness, heart disease awareness, etc). The purpose of this feature is to continue to spread the word around specific health awareness dates to spur increased understanding and prevention.
Health awareness events happening this April:
National Autism Awareness Month: Here in the States the oldest organization dedicated to autism is the Autism Society of America located in Bethesda, MD. They even have a section devoted to finding autism resources in your state. Also, Autism Speaks, "the nation's largest autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism" – has been making use of Twitter to get the word out this April for their awareness month. Don't forget to check out the Interactive Autism Network, a massive online community of autistic individuals and researchers searching for answers.
National Public Health Week (April 5-11): THE week for public health professionals! This week we get the word out on the field and why health promotion is important – time to make an even bigger splash by highlighting health awareness initiatives. With the American Public Health Association leading the way, National Public Health Week has returned with a message of improving community health – one neighborhood at a time. You can catch up with activities through APHA's Twitter account. Check out this video they did outlining some very important reasons why we need to get back on track developing successful public health programs:
World Health Day (Today, April 7, 2010): The World Health Organization, one of the foremost leading authorities on global health, is behind this year's World Health Day event today which is focusing on the theme of "1000 cities, 1000 lives". There is a Ning group devoted to this campaign as well as dedicated Facebook and Youtube pages for further interaction. The amount of energy that goes into global health campaigns is phenomenal. Watch these videos to get ideas on how to improve your local public health programs.