Awareness days can be a great opportunity to provide your employees with educational resources that drive awareness of important health conditions and challenges. However, as an HR professional, it’s not always easy to stay on top of the many health and wellbeing awareness events that take place throughout the year.

To make things a little easier, we've put together a list of each health and wellbeing awareness day for every month of 2024, so that you know exactly what’s coming up in 2024 and you can add these into your internal calendar.

This May, several important health and wellbeing events are set to take place, however International Day of the Midwife and Maternal Health Awareness Week are particularly relevant to the reproductive healthcare we provide here at Fertifa. If you would like to discover more about the impacts of reproductive health issues and how we support employees through their challenges, be sure to book a call using to button below - we are always here to talk!

Awareness months

National Walking Month

May is National Walking Month- an annual reminder of the benefits of walking and spending time outdoors. As always, people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids are also included.

Initiatives include Walk to Work Week and Walk to School Week. One that we love is Living Street’s “20 tips to help you fit 20 minutes of walking into your day” campaign.

Awareness days and weeks

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Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week - 29th April – 5th May

Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is a week-long campaign dedicated to talking about mental health problems before, during and after pregnancy. The week is all about raising public and professional awareness of perinatal mental health problem and advocating for the women and families impacted.

You can find a day-by-day breakdown of the themes for the week here.

International Day of the Midwife - 5^th May

The International Day of the Midwife has been annually celebrated on the 5th of May since it was set up by the International Confederation of Midwives in 1992, and provides a great opportunity to celebrate and raise awareness about the midwifery profession and the crucial work they do.

This year’s theme is "Midwives: A Vital Climate Solution", which you can find out more about here.

World Hand Hygiene Day - 5^th May

On May 5^th each year, the "SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands" campaign led by the WHO dedicates the day to raise awareness around the importance of hand hygiene in healthcare.

According to the WHO, the overall aim of the campaign is to progress the maintaining a global profile and ‘bring people together’ in support of hand hygiene improvement globally.

Deaf Awareness Week - 6^th-12^th May

The aim of Deaf Awareness Week is to raise awareness of hearing loss in the UK and its impact on people's lives.

The aim of this year’s Deaf Awareness Week is to promote greater awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by the deaf community in accessing communication. The theme highlights the need for breaking down the communication barriers that prevent deaf people from fully participating in society.

National Day for Staff Networks - 8^th May

The national day for staff networks aims to encourage collaboration, support aligned activity and further inspire the voice of network members. It’s the world's only nationwide day dedicated to recognising networks/resource groups and the incredible value they add to the workplace.

International Nurses Day - 12^th May

IND is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. ICN commemorates this important day each year with the production and distribution of theInternational Nurses' Day (IND) resources and evidence.

You can find more information about the event on the International Council of Nurses website.

Mental Health Awareness Week - 13^th-19^th May

Mental Health Awareness Week is the biggest opportunity of the year for the whole of the UK to come together to focus on improving mental health in our society. The week aims to tackle stigma and help people understand and prioritise their own and others' mental health.

The event is supported by the Mental Health Foundation.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day - 16^th May

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is an awareness day focusing on digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people alive today who live with disabilities or impairments and is marked annually on the third Thursday of May.

The purpose of the event is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than one billion people around the world with disabilities and/or impairments

Dementia Action Week - 16^th–22^nd May

Dementia Action Week is our annual campaign that brings people together from across the country under a unified theme to take action on dementia. Each year, Alzheimer's Society works with individuals and organisations across the UK to encourage people to act on dementia.

If you want to get involved this year, Age UK has some great suggestions. 

National Epilepsy Week - 24^th-30^th May

From May 24 to May 30, National Epilepsy Week will be taking place to raise awareness for those affected by epilepsy and what can be done to help those who suffer from the condition. 

This year, the Epilepsy Society have set the theme for the week as #epilepsymatters, which you can discover more about here

International Human Resources Day - 20^th May

A day to celebrate HR professionals! (finally… 😉)

An international day of recognition for all the hard working HR and people professionals around the world. For more information on what International HR Day truly means, why it’s important, and what you can do to celebrate this day, take a look at this page on the Academy to Innovate HR website.

World Meditation Day - 21^st May

Held every year on May 21st since 1995, this annual event is a time to find a moment of peace, reflect and reconnect with yourself. To celebrate World Meditation Day, you don't need to be an experienced meditator. Anyone can get involved and make the most of the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing benefits.

Get in touch to discover more!

If you're looking for more information on how we support HR professionals, book in a call with our team and we can talk you through how to work with Fertifa 💜