Supported by WiRED Health Learning Modules
By Allison Kozicharow; Edited by Jessie Crowdy
As the spread of the new coronavirus headlines the news this month, February is also a busy month for health observances.
WiRED International provides training modules and, in some cases, special series for February health occasions. Some of these relevant modules have been translated into languages such as Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
February is American Heart Month. WiRED offers modules on heart diseases for general audiences and heart sounds in children for healthcare professionals, a 14-part nurses’ training course for the echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease, as well as a series on rheumatic heart disease training for students, teachers and health workers. WiRED also created a short video on rheumatic heart disease, which describes the disease and explains why it is so serious, why it prevails among underserved communities, and why we need to address it.
February 4 is World Cancer Day. WiRED provides a 19-part series on cancer for general audiences and healthcare professionals. The series explains cancer and reviews a wide array of topics related to the most common cancers.
February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. (Illogically, the month also celebrates Decorating with Candy Day, National Dark Chocolate Day, Bubble Gum Day and National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day!) WiRED offers a module on dental hygiene, which teaches people young and old how to keep the mouth, teeth, gums and tongue clean and healthy to prevent disease. Dental hygiene is sadly neglected in the many underserved populations worldwide where WiRED works.
Health observances are useful reminders of the many health challenges we face, but that only goes so far. WiRED believes that understanding healthy practices through education is the best prevention because community health begins with knowledge.