Each month, we highlight a selection of National Health Observances (NHOs) to help raise awareness about important issues that impact health in communities across the United States. This month, we’re talking about breast cancer, health literacy, and health care quality.
To help you spread the word, we’ve pulled together resources you can use to promote these NHOs. Join us this month in promoting health nationwide!
- National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
The American Cancer Society dedicates the month of October to raising awareness about the benefits of finding and treating breast cancer early. Healthy People has a number of objectives related to breast cancer in the Cancer topic area. You can also find a promotional toolkit on healthfinder to help you spread the word about the NHO — as well as information on getting mammograms and talking with the doctor about family history of breast or ovarian cancer. - Health Literacy Month
For the past 20 years, the Institute of Healthcare Advancement has promoted the importance of easy-to-understand health information during Health Literacy Month. Join the conversation by sharing Health Literacy Online, a guide to developing health websites and digital tools that all users can access and understand. And be sure to take a look at the Health Literate Care Model to learn about improving health outcomes by encouraging patient engagement. Healthy People also has health literacy-related objectives in the Health Communication and Health Information Technology topic area.
And please join us on Twitter by following @HHSPrevention — we’ll be posting special health literacy-related content throughout the month of October!
- National Healthcare Quality Week
The National Association for Healthcare Quality is sponsoring Healthcare Quality Week from October 20 to 26 to celebrate health professionals working to improve quality of care. Get involved by sharing our health care quality initiatives, programs, and trainings. You can also explore Healthy People’s objectives related to Medical Product Safety and Healthcare-Associated Infections to learn about national goals to promote health care quality. Finally, share healthfinder’s user-friendly resource to help people in your community learn how to prevent health care-associated infections.
We hope we’ve made it easier for you to promote these important NHOs on your channels! Together, we can take steps to improve the Nation’s health.