A calendar view of the awareness days, weeks, months and cultural events that the BDA will be acknowledging in 2024.
Download the PDF version here.
We would love specialist groups, sub-groups, branches and individual members to make use of this calendar to plan ahead and shape some of your social media and email content this year.
Please be aware, some dates are not yet confirmed and are an estimate based on 2023 dates.
January
All month:
- Navigating the New Year nonsense: Our New Year campaign will be running throughout the month. Please engage and share the content. Find out more here.
- Veganuary: A chance to promote ways to have a healthy vegan diet. Please share our Food Fact Sheet. You might have some great recipes to share too.
- Dry January: BDA resources you might consider sharing: Alcohol consumption in students and Alcohol myths.
1 - New Year's Day
15 - Brew Monday. Our Work Ready programme will be promoting the importance of hydration/ having a break and chatting with colleagues - feel free to share! #BrewMonday. See The Samaritans for more info.
25 - Burns Night
February
All month:
- Heart Month: Please share our Food Fact Sheet. Also check out Heart UK and the British Heart Foundation for supporting materials.
- LGBT+ History Month: We hope to have a new article to share - link to follow!
- Fibre February: Keep an eye out for our fibre social graphics which we will be sharing. Also take a look at our Fibre Food Fact Sheet. Our Work Ready programme will also be sharing things during the month. Check out UK Flour Millers for more information.
1 - Time to Talk Day. Mind has some useful resources all around opening up the conversation about mental health, you might consider sharing.
4 - World Cancer Day. Please share our resource on cancer myths.
5-11 - National Apprenticeship Week. We’re hoping to share experiences of placements as well as promote new apprenticeship programmes.
11 - International Day of Women and Girls in Science
12-18 - Student Volunteering Week. This is what we did in 2023 - please put your brilliant student members forward for this year’s campaign?
12-18 - Heart Unions Week. Please show some love for your BDA Trade Union this week! We’ll be promoting its work and how it supports you.
13 - Pancake Day
26 March - 3 April - Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Beat run the campaign and this year’s theme is ARFID. Here’s our statement.
March
4 - World Obesity Day. The 2024 theme is all about challenging misconceptions so it’s a great opportunity to highlight our Weight Stigma Guidelines. Members have also written lots of useful articles that you might like to refer to. Check out the BDA website.
4-9 - National Careers Week. Help us share our careers resources!
8 - International Women's Day. We plan to cover the brilliant work by women trade unionists to support workers’ rights.
10 March - 8 April - Ramadan. Here’s an interesting member article about colleagues fasting.
11-17 - Nutrition and Hydration Week. Please share the Older People Specialist Group’s new resource - Eating, Drinking and Ageing Well. We’ll also have items to share from Work Ready about staying hydrated at work.
14 - World Kidney Day. The theme is Kidney Health for All. Don’t forget to promote our Renal Dietitian video too!
15 - Swallowing Awareness Day. We’d like to look at how speech and language therapists work with dietitians - can you help?
18-24 - Neurodiversity Celebration Week. More details from the organisers here. You might also consider sharing this member article about ADHD.
25 - Holi
31 - Easter Sunday
April
All month:
- Bowel Cancer Month: Bowel Cancer UK has resources.
- IBS Awareness Month: Check out and share this helpful BDA resource about IBS. You may also find some useful information on the Guts UK website.
10 - Eid-al-Fitr
13 - Vaisakhi
22-26 - Greener AHP Week. For members working in the NHS in England - we will be supporting the campaign with sharing all the good work AHPs in the NHS are doing in this area. More here.
22 - Earth Day. Perhaps you might like to explore a new sustainable initiative by a member in your group... or how we can reduce single use plastics in dietetics? Here’s an article from last year for inspiration.
24 - Stop Food Waste Day
28 - International Workers' Memorial Day. More here.
May
All month:
- Stroke Awareness Month: A number of our Food Fact Sheets reference strokes including our Stanols and Sterols and Cholesterol ones. You might also like to highlight the work of neuroscience dietitians. More info on the Stroke Association website.
13-19 - Coeliac Awareness Week. Find out more on the Coeliac UK website. We also have a number of useful articles for you to refer to including our Food Fact Sheet and this member article on what’s new in dietetic provision for adults with coeliac disease.
13-19 - Mental Health Awareness Week. More information on the Mental Health Foundation website.
13-19 - Salt Awareness Week. More information about the Action on Salt campaign is available here. We’ll have some graphics you can share too.
17 - Hypertension Day. Please share our updated Food Fact Sheet.
17 - International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. Our trade union will be sharing resources.
20-26 - Dementia Action Week. Resources available from the Alzheimer's Society.
29 - Digestive Health Day
June
All month:
- Pride: How are you recognising and celebrating Pride? Tell us at [email protected]. See our campaign page here.
3-7 - Dietitians Week. Let’s celebrate your specialism and branch. We’ll have lots for you to get involved with including a bit of baking!
3-9 - Growing for Wellbeing Week. Our Work Ready team will be sharing resources. Also check out our seasonal fruit and vegetable page.
10-14 - BNF Healthy Eating Week
10-16 - Diabetes Week. Take a look at and share our Food Fact Sheets on Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. More from Diabetes UK.
10-17 - Men's Health Week. If you have any male case studies take this opportunity to promote your work supporting men’s health. Work Ready will also be sharing materials.
17 - Eid-al-Adha
22 - Windrush Day. An opportunity to thank the Windrush generation for their contribution to the creation of NHS. Look out for materials from the NHS.
25-29 - National Breastfeeding Celebration Week. Check out our policy statement on breastfeeding.
July
5 - NHS Birthday
7 - Islamic New Year
18 July - 17 August - South Asian Heritage Month. This is an opportunity to celebrate the cooking and culture of South Asia. We have lots of recipes on Let's Get Cooking for you to share.
26 July - 11 August - 2024 Olympics. We’d love to promote the work of dietitians working with athletes. Let us know if you have any in your group or branch: [email protected].
August
15 - Exam results (A-Levels). Help us share our careers resources!
22 - Exam results (GCSE). Help us share our careers resources!
September
All month:
- Sustainable September: What sustainable practices are you embedding in your practice? Let us know at [email protected].
- University start of term: Consider promoting your group or branch to students over the next few months. Do you have any useful tips for dietetic students that you could share?
4-10 - Know Your Numbers Week (blood pressure): Take a look at our Hypertension Food Fact Sheet. Also visit Blood Pressure UK for resources.
21 - Alzheimer's Day. Resources available from the Alzheimer's Society.
23-29 - National Inclusion Week. Our trade union will be sharing resources.
October
All month:
- Black History Month: We’ll be highlighting the work and experiences of Black dietitians, support workers and students. Please get involved!
- Cholesterol Awareness Month: Take a look at our Cholesterol and Plant Stanols and Sterols Food Fact Sheets. Find out more at Heart UK.
1 - International Day of Older Persons. Please share the Older People Specialist Group’s new resource - Eating, Drinking and Ageing Well. We’ll also have items to share from Work Ready including their Eat Well Age Well workshops.
3 - Rosh Hashanah begins
10 - Mental Health Day. Share some important messaging around food and mood with our Food Fact Sheet.
12 - Yom Kippur
14 - AHPs' Day 4 (Members in England in the NHS). Promote your roles within the NHS community. More info here.
18 - We’ll be looking at what to eat during the perimenopause - can you help? Also see our Food Fact Sheet.
20 - Osteoporosis Day. Please share our Osteoporosis Food Fact Sheet.
29 - World Stroke Day. A number of our Food Fact Sheets reference strokes including our Cholesterol and Plant Stanols and Sterols Food Fact Sheets. More info on the Stroke Association website.
31 - Halloween
November
All month:
- Movember: We’ll be sharing details of our men’s health Work Ready workshop. More details about Movember here.
1 - Diwali
4-8 - Trustees Week. We’ll be celebrating the work of our General and Education Trust trustees.
6 - 12 - Malnutrition Awareness Week. We’ll be supporting the work of BAPEN. Please also share our Malnutrition Food Fact Sheet.
11-17 - Sugar Awareness Week. We’ll be supporting the work of Action on Sugar this week. Please share our Sugar Food Fact Sheet too.
14 - World Diabetes Day. Please share our video on what diabetes dietitians do.
17 - World Prematurity Day. Check out the latest position statements of the Neonatal Specialist Sub-Group.
19 - International Men's Day. We’ll be having a careers focus and looking at how we can encourage more men into the profession. Can you help?
December
1 - World AIDS Day. An opportunity to promote what dietitians working in HIV care do and their brilliant work with patients.
5 - International Volunteer Day. Every year we celebrate the work of all our volunteers on this day.
25 - Christmas
25 December - 2 January - Hannukah
31 - New Year's Eve