By Emily Largent
Perhaps you already knew that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Did you also know that it is:
- Domestic Violence Awareness Month,
- Eye Injury Prevention Month,
- Health Literacy Month,
- Home Eye Safety Month,
- National Bullying Prevention Month,
- National Down Syndrome Awareness Month,
- National Medical Librarians Month,
- National Physical Therapy Month, and
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness Month?
On top of that, we have (just to name a few): Mental Illness Awareness Week (Oct. 6-10); National Depression Screening Day (Oct. 9); Bone and Joint Health National Awareness Week (Oct. 12-20); World Pediatric Bone and Joint Day (Oct. 19); and World Psoriasis Day (Oct. 29). Background on what it takes to make it onto the H.H.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion’s national health observances (NHOs) calendar can be found here.
These campaigns can have different goals: raising general awareness of a health need; changing behavior–for example, convincing individuals to change risky behaviors or to take steps toward disease prevention; soliciting donations for research; increasing early detection; enabling patient support groups; or influencing legislators and policy. It appears that NHOs can make a difference. They are not, however, free of controversy.
For example, a primary goal of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) is to encourage regular breast examination so that cancer can be diagnosed at an early stage. It has been found that the NBCAM campaign was initially effective in increasing diagnoses, but the effect has diminished over time as the movement has matured, and it seems that the benefits of mammography screening programs have been overestimated. Unsurprisingly, it has been suggested that it is time for NBCAM to shift focus. Additionally, many have been critical of the commercialization of NBCAM (see, e.g., the NFL’s “A Crucial Catch” campaign).
What do you think of NBCAM? Of NHOs more broadly? Personally, I was surprised at how few of the October NHOs I was aware of, even though medical charity is a topic of personal and academic interest for me.
