FASD AWARENESS DAY

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Countdown 09/09/2022

RED SHOES ROCK!

Starting the conversation about FASD

$Red Shoes Rock logo - red shoes with the words \$

Red Shoes Rock! is about every New Zealander stepping out in red shoes to build awareness of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) during September. RJ Formanek, an adult living with FASD, sparked Red Shoes Rock! some years ago when he decided to wear red shoes to stand out from the crowd, get people talking, and make FASD visible - now it's gone global!

Join us during FASD awareness month and help continue the conversation.

FASD AWARENESS DAY 2021

AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

Thursday 9 September 9 am – 10 am

Alcohol Healthwatch and University of Auckland's School of Population Health, co-hosted FASD Awareness Day on 9 September 2021 via Zoom webinar during Covid-19 restrictions.

Honoured guest speakers included:

Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft

Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero MNZM

FASD-CAN (Care Action Network) Chair Leigh Henderson

FASD Navigator Anna Gundesen

Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft shares FASD Awareness Day message on Facebook

CLICK TO WATCH

Alcohol Healthwatch spreads global message to prevent harm from drinking during pregnancy this FASD Awareness Day

Alcohol Healthwatch has released a FASD day 2021 message to the media. You can read it here.

New Alcohol Healthwatch FASD Factsheet

Download our August 2021 factsheet here.

Don't know? Don't drink digital toolkit

Te Hiringa Hauora (Health Promotion Agency) has developed a digital toolkit of resources that can be used to support your promotional activities for FASD awareness month. You can view the toolkit here.

Pregnancy warning success at last!

On the 17th July 2020, Australian and New Zealand Ministers voted for mandatory pregnancy health warning labels giving alcohol producers three years to include the warning label on their products and packaging. Alcohol Healthwatch says that to their knowledge this is the only pregnancy health warning label in the world that includes both a pictogram and specific text, with the warning heading also required to be in red to attract to attention. This label will add to the other actions that are in place to support healthy pregnancies and is another important step to building strong and consistent messaging about alcohol-free pregnancies being the safest option. (Below is an example of the mandated label)

The '20 year gestation of a pregnancy health warning for alcohol' written by Dr Nicki Jackson, Executive Director, Alcohol Healthwatch, and recently published in the New Zealand Medical Journal Digest, documents the journey to achieving this historic warning label decision.

'Bottled Shame' - worth a watch

This investigative piece aired on the 'Sunday' programme on July 19th sharing an insight into the daily lives and struggles of people living with FASD and those caring for them. In this segment, Miriama Kamo interviews young people that have FASD, their caregivers, Dr Valerie McGinn (Clinical neuropsychologist/FASD Specialist), Judge Andrew Becroft (Children's Commissioner) and Rt. Honorable Chris Hipkins (Health Minister).

FASD-CAN Inc have compiled a report documenting what individuals, families and whanau living with FASD are really experiencing. With the expiry of the FASD Action Plan 2016-2019 FASD-CAN felt that it was important that they canvassed the improvements that have been made and where the gaps still are in the sector. Read the full report here.

FASD is recognised as the leading preventable cause of intellectual disability in the developed world. It’s about all of us, our future children, and it's about the choices we make around our drinking. Many of us have, or will make a choice to have or not have a drink while pregnant. Evidence shows that there is no known safe amount to drink while pregnant. Find more information about FASD research and prevention here.

Are you up for the RED SHOES ROCK! Challenge?

If we are going to give our children the best start in life we need to be informed, so we need to get talking.

Pledge to Wear Red Shoes this September and we'll send you an action pack with a badge and resources to help you get the conversation started.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up for the RED SHOES ROCK Challenge now!

Attend an Event

Learn More

Create your own event

Help spread the word by sharing why you'll be Rocking Red Shoes in September!

Upload a photo of you Rocking Red Shoes and we will feature it on our FASD Champions photo board!

Share why FASD prevention and awareness is important to you. You can record or upload a video, write a few words or an essay, or upload an image - it's up to you!

You are welcome to send as many stories as you wish, in any format or style. Help get the conversation started!

Upload A Photo Add A Written Story Record A Video Story