How effective are health awareness days?

National awareness days for one health condition or another seemingly take place every day, but just how effective are these at raising the profile of certain illnesses?

According to new research carried out by doctors from the Drexel University School of Public Health, there were almost 200 health awareness events in the US throughout 2014, but there is little evidence to back up the purpose and need for them.

Furthermore, analysis of 74 studies with the term 'awareness day' in their title found that only five included an assessment of their impact in changing perceptions of a particular illness.

Most of the time, the study simply explained what the day was trying to raise awareness of, without including any scientific evidence to support this information – something doctors believe needs to change to improve the effectiveness of these events.

Commenting on the motives behind the research, co-author of the study Jonathan Purtle explained: "We contend that the health awareness day has not been held to an appropriate level of scrutiny given the scale at which is has been embraced.

"Awareness is not a bad thing, it's just that it's far from sufficient to improve population health."