National Women’s Health Week 2024 – Missouri Partners in Prevention

Welcome to National Women’s Health Week (NWHW) 2024! Did you know that starting in 2000, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) designated the first Women’s National Health Week, encouraging women to prioritize their health? Followed by the National Women’s Check-up Day three years later, HHS has been designing evidence-based guides and public health campaigns to help women prioritize their health across the lifespan in this way for almost 25 years.

Empowering Women, Cultivating Health:
Celebrating Voices, Wellness & Resilience

NWHW in the United States is observed beginning on Mother’s Day through the following week. Major government offices including the HHS and the Office on Women’s Health (OWH) partner in this effort. One of their major goals is to close the research and awareness gaps in women’s healthcare and provide information that will help women access and be aware of the information and services they need.

The NWHW 2024 theme is, “Empowering Women, Cultivating Health: Celebrating Voices, Wellness & Resilience.” The goal is to help women take more control of their health experience through receptive environments, advocating for women’s voices, accessing and scheduling preventative care, etc. In addition to these overarching goals, they have carefully selected “observance week spotlights” for each day of the week, with additional resources for each focus listed:

NWHW 2024 Observance Week Spotlights

Sunday, May 12th: Empowering Women in their Health Journey
Monday, May 13th: Safe Sexual Health
Tuesday, May 14th: Shining a Light on Maternal Mental Health
Wednesday, May 15th: Talk About It – Reducing Women’s Health Stigma
Thursday, May 16th: Understanding Care is There
Friday, May 17th: Reproductive Health from Puberty to Menopause and Beyond
Saturday, May 18th: Women and Heart Health
Link to the Entire NWHW Toolkit

Interestingly, the FDA also observes NWHW, however, they promote a separate theme. This year’s theme is “Know Your Bones” with resources and a separate toolkit related to bone health, osteoporosis, etc.

Health equity, raising the bar, and amplifying the voice of marginalized groups are central goals of Missouri Partners in Prevention. The NWHW information and toolkit resources are available for public use and ease the partnership for promoting this on your campuses through social media. Whether you can participate this week or want to use this information once students are on campus during the regular school year, this can be immensely valuable. Please note the list of resources linked throughout and in the list below.