20th March - International Happiness Day International happiness day is celebrated on 20th March Every Year. Would you believe that right now, in PubMed, the number of articles covering happiness is just over 5000, while the number of articles covering depression is over 2,60,000?? Shouldn't something be done about this? This year, the theme of International Happiness Day is on holistic concepts like keeping calm, staying wise, and being kind. 2020 has been hard on all of us, and our health professionals are no exception. With long hours and increased susceptibility to the COVID virus, health professionals have come forward…

16th March - Measles immunization day Measles immunization day is observed on 16th March every year. It is an effort to make people more aware of the disease and the steps they can take to prevent it. As health-care professionals living in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, the best way to raise awareness is through technology. Supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) are dependent on resource availability. Overall immunization efforts can be enhanced with effective communication that is evidence-based, reaches grassroots, is interactive, and based on local community support. Interactive support is becoming better with the growth of social media channels…

15th March - World Disabled Day The Internet shows two observances for Disabilities - 15th March and 3rd December. Till we learn more about each of these, we share our blog post anyway! 15th March is a day for raising awareness about human disabilities. Among other factors, aging and population growth play a big role in increasing numbers of people with dementia and disabilities. Rehabilitation interventions help improve the physical function, cognition, and quality of life of people with disabilities. Owing to technological advances, it is possible to deliver many rehabilitation interventions digitally with the aid of telehealth services. This is…

11th March - World Kidney Day The World Kidney Day is a joint initiative of the International Society of Nephrology  (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF). The event is to raise awareness of the importance of good kidney health and of course to reduce the incidence and impact of kidney diseases In India we have the Indian Society of Nephrology, which does its bit. Their website gives Indian guidelines on Chronic Kidney Diseases and also a guideline on the use of  various vaccines for children and adults with CKD. We also have different Foundations in India tackling kidney…

10th March - No Smoking Day. Observed every year on the second Wednesday of March, this is a day of awareness of the harm caused to humans by smoking. For both -  health professionals and health consumers the risks posed by chronic smoking are not new. While it has many negative implications, it is known as an overwhelming contributor to cancer. We came across this interesting article (Prochazka, 1988) -  that discusses the role of a physician in helping patients quit smoking. It says that physicians traditionally focused on those patients who are already ill from smoking, rather than practicing…