The National Center for Health Education (NCHE) is the officially-designated coordinating sponsor of National Health Education Week, an annual event that is celebrated throughout the nation during the third week of October. Since 1995, NCHE has identified an annual theme for National Health Education Week in order to focus national attention and raise awareness of pressing health issues of interest to the public. In collaboration with a co-sponsor, the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) and its 21 nationwide chapters, together NCHE and SOPHE provide organizational support to schools and community groups, professionals, and the media throughout the nation to undertake activities for National Health Education Week at the state and local level.

In addition to the identification of a theme to be highlighted each year, NCHE and SOPHE have developed a guidebook that helps communities organize and plan activities, decide on the settings to be targeted, decide on primary and secondary populations of interest, brainstorm ways to reach the population of interest, find resources to assist local efforts, and evaluate activities. The guidebook is part of a kit that includes a science-based fact sheet about the theme, as well as media and other resources for organizing a celebration of National Health Education Week.

Recent themes for National Health Education week have included:

1996 - "Violence Prevention Guide"

1997 - "Comming To Terms With Germs: Infection Prevention"

1998 - "Making it to Home Plate: School, Family, and Community Nutrition"

1999 - "Disaster Preparedness"

2000 - "Diabetes and Children"

2001 - "Asthma: Prevention, Treatment, and Management"

2002 - "Medicine Education: What Children Need to Know"

2003 - "Physical Activity: Every Step Counts"

2004 - "Eating Healthy: Every Bite Counts!"

2005 - "Healthy Choices: Family Life Education"

2006 - "Healthy Kids: Creating Safe Communities and Schools"

Major support for National Health Education Week has been provided by numerous corporate and charitable foundations, including the Metropolitan Life Foundation, Washington Apple Education Foundation, and International Food Information Council Foundation, as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Groups interested in providing support for the current year's National Health Education Week theme or in future years should contact Jeanne Chun at jeanne@nche.org.

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