Alcohol Awareness Month – Alcohol is the Nation’s #1 public health problem Alcohol Awareness Month was established in 1987 by NCADD to help reduce the stigma so often associated with alcoholism by encouraging communities to reach out to the American public each April with information about alcohol, alcoholism and recovery. Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive disease, genetically predisposed and fatal if untreated. However people can and do recover. In fact, it is estimated that as many as 20 million individuals and family members are living lives in recovery! Alcohol Awareness Month provides a focused opportunity to increase awareness and understanding of alcoholism, its causes, effective treatment and recovery. It is an opportunity to decrease stigma and misunderstandings in order to dismantle the barriers to treatment and recovery, and thus, make seeking help more readily available to those who suffer from this disease. The 2017 theme is Connecting the Dots: Opportunities for Recovery
Get an Alcohol Awareness Month Organizer’s Guide. Healthfinder.gov also offers a toolkit with promotional and informational resources. And April 7 is National Alcohol Screening Day
National Minority Health Month is a time to raise awareness on issues impacting health disparities and health equity in America. The theme for 2017, Bridging Health Equity Across Communities, emphasizes the collaborative, community-level work being done across the nation to help achieve health equity.
Organ Donor Month – Today, more than 119,000 men, women and children are on the national transplant waiting list; 22 people die each day waiting for a transplant. Each year, the number of people on the waiting list continues to grow, while the number of donors and transplants grows slowly. Learn directly from recipient stories what it can mean to be a donor.
Other health observances in April
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Awareness Month
National Child Abuse Prevention Month
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
National Autism Awareness Month
National Distracted Driving Awareness Month
4/3 – 4/9 – National Window Safety Week
4/4 – 4/10 – National Public Health Week
4/7 – World Health Day 2017
4/11 – 4/15 – National Work Zone Awareness Week
4/16 – 4/23 – National Infant Immunization Week
4/17 – 4/23 – National Environmental Education Week
4/24 – World Meningitis Day
4/24 – 4/28 – Every Kid Healthy Week
4/25 – 4/29 – National Playground Safety Week
4/25 – World Malaria Day
4/28 – Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day
4/28 – Workers Memorial Day