Oesophebruary
In UK, February is Oesophagus Awareness month, alternatively entitled "oesophebruary" (using the hashtag #oesophebruary for any posts on social media).
The charities focussing on cancers may call it Oesophageal Cancer awareness month with #oesophagealcancer being more frequently use.
The history of oesophebruay oesophageal cancer awareness month
Some acid reflux charities had been suggesting we needed a focus on oesophageal diseases since other cancers all seemed to have their dedicated month.
The Michael Blake Foundation (fighting oesophageal cancer) had been suggesting February as the month for focussing on Oesophageal cancer. (Unfotunately, like so many following Covid lockdown, the charity has ceased to exist.)
With the announcement there would be a Be Clear On Cancer campaign in February 2015, Barrett's Wessex decided to try and officially recognise February as Oesophagus Awareness month so the good work of the campaign could continue in future years.
Originally termed "Oesophageal Cancer Awareness month", it was considered by Barrett's Wessex and Action Against Heartburn that identification of Barrett's Oesophagus may be more important than identification of Oesophageal Cancer when it may be too late.
The Point To Your Oesophagus (PTYO) website was originally created specifically as a precursor to the February 2015 campaign but with the adoption of Oesophagus Awareness month, the site has since been closed.
Red and Yellow were the colours chosen by Barrett's Wessex members when they introduced their new logo following a competition and ballot in 2012. They were also the colours chosen by Heartburn Cancer UK following consultation with a publicity agency in 2014. The colours were also selected by Action Against Heartburn in a branding exercise in 2015.
In US, April was selected as Esophageal Cancer Awareness month at about the same time as oesophebruary was introduced.
In 2020, an initiative was started to attempt to have European nations adopt April as Oesophageal Cancer Awareness month.