Thursday was not just Leap Day — it was also Rare Disease Day, which, the official website says, is dedicated to "raising awareness and generating change for the 300 million people worldwide living with a rare disease, their families and carers." I had to admit I was delighted when I first learned this year that Rare Disease Day is held on Leap Day. (In non-Leap years, it's held on Feb. 28.)
But, I'm afraid, I did not assign any of the many Rare Disease Day-related submissions I received for First Opinion in recent weeks. That's because First Opinion, like the rest of STAT, generally does not recognize health awareness days/weeks/months. I wanted to take a moment to explain why.
In the U.S., March is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month, National Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month, National Kidney Month, Endometriosis Awareness Month, Deep Vein Thrombosis Awareness Month, National Nutrition Month, Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, National Colorectal Awareness Month, Brain Injury Awareness Month, and Save Your Vision Month. I'm probably missing a few, since it's hard to find comprehensive lists. And, of course, any given day or week of the month is also raising awareness for multiple conditions.
These days/weeks/months are very important to the communities they revolve around. But the rest of the world, frankly, does not care. There are some exceptions here — Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to mind. But ask a friend or family member who isn't active in advocacy when National Nutrition Month is, and they won't know.
Nevertheless, every day I have to turn down First Opinion submissions that are pegged to these awareness days/weeks/months — that is, they explicitly use National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month as an opportunity to argue that we need to pay more attention to colorectal cancer.
We probably do need to pay more attention to colorectal cancer. But an article arguing that, timed to a month arguing that, is not compelling reading for the average STAT audience member.
This is in keeping with STAT's own policy of not covering such awareness days/weeks/months, an approach that dates back to the publication's early days. When I checked with managing editors Jason Ukman and Gideon Gil, who have both been at STAT from the start, they told me that original thinking was that STAT is a news site, and such occasions are not news. Fundamentally, these days/weeks/months are about marketing.
Sometimes it's hard to turn down these pieces! I too want to raise awareness. But awareness alone is very rarely a compelling argument.
I will say that I'm not against a stealthy awareness month/day/week piece. If it is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month and you submit a compelling, surprising op-ed about MS that does not mention the month, well, we can make that work. But it needs much more to it than just pointing out that March is MS Awareness Month.
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This week on First Opinion: Medicare Advantage is bad for both patients and investors. Transplant surgeon Joshua Mezrich writes that thousands of kidneys go to waste every year in the U.S. He has a proposal for how to get them into bodies instead. Why cancer patients in rural areas now have to travel long distances to get the drugs they need. IVF restrictions could hurt children who are already born. Palliative psychiatry offers a new approach for patients with serious mental illness. And a new bill in Louisiana would legalize execution by nitrogen — and shield any physicians involved.
Recommendation of the week: If you're looking for some recent-tech-history nostalgia, "BlackBerry" on Hulu is a surprisingly fun watch. I confess I never had a BlackBerry, but I bet I would've loved that keyboard.
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