In 1995, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designated the
National Center for Health Education (NCHE), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, as the official sponsor of National Health Education Week, which is celebrated annually during the third week of October. In the past, the Week's campaigns have focused on the topics of violence prevention, tobacco education, infection prevention and nutrition. In 1999, NCHE partnered with Aetna U.S. Healthcare (now Aetna, Inc.) and the
Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) to conduct the "Facing Disasters, Making Decisions" campaign for National Health Education Week 1999 (October 18-24, 1999).
The National Center for Health Education is the developer and demonstrator of the nationally recognized and evaluated Growing Healthy® comprehensive school health education curriculum. The kindergarten through sixth grade program has been implemented nationwide and has benefited children and their families for more than 25 years. Growing Healthy rests on the premise that if children understand how their bodies work and appreciate a range of factors — biological, social and environmental — that affect their health, they will be more likely to establish good health and safety habits during this formative period. On this basis, NCHE believes that teaching adults and children about natural disasters is important for the prevention of injury and disease.
National Health Education Week 1999 launched an educational campaign aimed at informing adults and children about natural disasters, the consequences for personal and community safety and health, and preparedness and safety measures. The first activity for the year is the release of a campaign organizing guidebook.
Planning and Conducting Community Campaigns—A Guidebook (1.1 MB PDF), intended for organizations, leaders and health educators, provides suggestions for developing and conducting health education campaigns at the community level.
More information about natural disaster preparedness and safety can be obtained from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website.
