Do we really need a Folic Acid Awareness Week (officially designated thus by the CDC )? Please. Is there a ribbon to wear for Folic Acid Awareness Week or coupons discounting folic acid supplements? Or perhaps we can buy bulk spinach and romaine at a discount? Not necessarily, but you can send an e-card, take an online quiz on Fast Folic Acid Facts and learn lots of other trivia on their campaign website. Despite the involvement of the venerable and respected March of Dimes, I do not view this as a necessary health campaign (which, by the way, is funded in part by the association of folks who make and market folic acid supplements, as well as your Federal tax dollars.)
Here are some other bizarre awareness weeks, months, days. Someone actually sat down and made these “official”!
February
- National Wise Health Consumer Month (as opposed to National Idiotic and Wasteful Health Consumer Month)
- National Condom Week – Feb 12-17 (what are we supposed to be celebrating or becoming more aware of? That condoms exist? Multiple, random and bizarre uses for condoms?)
March
- National Problem Gambling Awareness Week (as opposed to non-problematic Gambling Awareness) – March 5-11
- Brain Awareness Week (one week out of the year that we realize we have one? Or that we realize we’re operating on half of one?) – March 12-18
April
- Cesarean Awareness Month (so that you can either know that you can have one, know that you can schedule your children’s births to coincide with your next nail appointment, know that you want one, or discover that you had one you didn’t know about before)
May
- Ultraviolet Awareness Month (while I’m sure the goals of this organization are noble, do YOU understand what exactly you’re supposed to be aware of during the month of May?)
- Sex Differences in Health Awareness Day – May 15th. (Perhaps they should have considered substituting the word “GENDER” for “SEX”, which completely obfuscates the purpose of the day but certainly bumps the SEO value…)
June
- Rebuild Your Life month (I’ll bet you didn’t know it was shattered? Well, guess again)
- National Forgiveness Week (Don’t bother with it the rest of the year, you’ll always have June 14-20th for it)
- World Sauntering Day – 6/20 (Also known as “Walk Like a Horse Day”)
July
- Healthcare Executives Appreciation Day – 7/1 (The backdated stock options weren’t enough appreciation?)
August
- I guess they figure we’re all so slogged in the August heat we shouldn’t be aware of anything.
September
- World Mental Health Day (what a difference a day makes?)
October
- “Talk about Prescriptions” month – WHY?
- Drive Safely Work Week – 1st-5th (The rest of the year, who cares? But for this week, drive safely to work)
November
- National Impotency Awareness Month (Hmmmm, I can’t help wondering….isn’t that something that those affected individuals are aware of already? And do they really want the nation aware alongside them? )
- Gay American Smoke-Out – 11/18 (Gays are too good to do the smokeout alongside the straight folks? I guess they do it in June sometimes too.)
December
- National Hand Washing Awareness Week – 12/3-9 (We need an OFFICIAL WEEK for this? for 51 weeks of the year we can be as unsanitary as possible, but for that one week in December, be aware….)
Is it any wonder that we’re a nation of health-worriers? Between the disclaimers on TV pharma ads that leave me shaking my head, wondering why on earth anyone would voluntarily put a substance in their body that would do all those bad things, the “Awareness Weeks”, like the ones above, it’s a wonder anyone dares to get up in the morning and subject themselves to all the dangers out there.
Don’t misunderstand — there are some valuable causes buried in the not-so-valuable stuff. Children’s nutrition, breast cancer, cervical cancer, heart health for women — these are all important things to be aware of. But here’s the difference — most of these focus on WELLNESS. They are trying to raise awareness for prevention of terrible diseases that affect large segments of the population, either via screening or lifestyle changes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the whole ribbon/awareness/badge thing is so out of control that the worthy causes get buried in much less worthy causes like “folic acid awareness” (and yes, I understand that folic acid deficiencies cause birth defects, but there are MANY dangers in pregnancies, not just this one).
Folic Acid, by the way, is important for everyone, but especially women in childbearing years. If you eat lots of veggies, you get lots of folic acid naturally. If you take vitamins, you’ll get what you don’t get with the veggies. There. Now you’re aware. Why not broaden this to “Healthy Pregnancy Awareness week”? Better yet, why not take the money that’s being spent on the Internet raising awareness and take it to the streets, to the women least likely to be receiving prenatal or wellness screenings where they could learn about how to take care of themselves overall, not just with regard to folic acid?
I’m sure I will offend someone with my sarcastic fun-poking, but there’s truly a serious message underneath all the irony. There are truly important health issues which are being diluted by the zeal for everyone’s little tiny slice of the health industry to have their moment in the sun. If we just take a few minutes to use some common sense, lots of these “awareness” moments can be avoided in favor of living with our health in mind, rather than allowing pharmas and vitamin vendors to hawk their wares in the name of making us ‘aware’.
Technorati Tags: health awareness, CDC, HHS, national awareness days
