National Health Observances

Lynn lkelli@AOL.COM received this e-mail about creating National Health Observances
The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) has forwarded your message to the National Health Information Center (NHIC). healthfinder.gov and NHIC are information and referral services sponsored by ODPHP.

The general criteria for including a health event in the National Health Observances (NHO) Calendar are:
-- national status, evidenced by official sponsorship by a national organization or recognition by the U.S. Congress, the White House, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
-- materials for public health program planners, either on the Internet or in print, and contact information for obtaining them
-- educational information for the public
-- health prevention-related observance that does not promote commercial entities or professions.

Please note that NHIC does not sanction, approve, qualify, validate or name national health observances. The service we provide is in compiling and publishing awareness dates once the observances have achieved national status and the sponsoring organizations are able to submit proof, usually an official declaration or proclamation, when requesting the event be added to the NHO calendar. An example of an official proclamation designating a national health awareness can be viewed at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080401-6.html. You may wish to contact your state representative for consultation on how to establish and declare a national health observance.