World Prematurity Day takes place on 17 November and aims to raise awareness of the impact of premature birth, reinforcing the importance of improving care for babies and support for their families.
World Diabetes Day is on 14 November, a date established in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in memory of Frederick Banting, one of the people responsible for the discovery of insulin.
Stroke continues to be the leading cause of death and disability in Portugal, with around 25,000 cases a year and three occurrences an hour.
Celebrated on 20 October, National Cerebral Palsy Day was officially established in 2014 by Resolution 27/2014 of the Portuguese Parliament.
World Spine Day, marked on 16 October, reinforces the central role of musculoskeletal physiotherapy in promoting health and preventing spinal problems.
National Pain Day, celebrated on 14 October, has the theme "Preventive Care in Chronic Pain" and is officially organised by the European Pain Federation (EFIC). The day aims to increase understanding and awareness of chronic pain, a condition that affects 1 in 5 adults in Europe and is the leading cause of healthcare demand and disability.
On the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, marked on 13 October, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction reinforces the importance of "Financing resilience, not disasters", underlining the urgent need to invest in risk prevention and mitigation to avoid human, social and economic losses in the future.
Today marks World Palliative Care Day, celebrated annually on the second Saturday in October. The event is promoted by the World Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA) and, in 2025, will take place under the theme "Achieving the Promise: Universal Access to Palliative Care", reaffirming the global commitment to equitable access to quality palliative care at all stages of life.~
World Mental Health Day takes place on 10 October, established by the World Federation for Mental Health (FMSM).
Carlos Areia has been a physiotherapist since 2013, and has worked in various hospitals, clinics and clubs in both Portugal and the UK. He began his academic career at Oxford University in 2016, where he led a clinical trial comparing physiotherapy vs surgery in anterior cruciate injuries in 32 hospitals in England. In 2018 she moved to the neurosciences department, where she developed her own studies on remote monitoring of vital signs, which were implemented during the pandemic. Here he discovered his passion for data, and in 2022, he joined Digital Science as a Data Scientist. He completed his PhD earlier this year, and has more than 60 publications in journals such as The Lancet, BMJ, Cochrane, among others. He is also an honorary lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and a consultant in clinical research.
PhD in Physiotherapy from the University of Brighton, UK. Post-Doctorate in Epidemiology from the National School of Public Health at the New University of Lisbon.
Coordinator of the Studies and Planning Office of the Order of Physiotherapists. Coordinating Professor of the Physiotherapy Department of the School of Health of the Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal (ESS-IPS). President of the ESS-IPS Technical-Scientific Council. Coordinator of the Physiotherapy Department at ESS-IPS. Integrated Researcher at the Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC) (a partnership between FCM-UNL, the National School of Public Health, the University of Évora, the Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health and Santo Espírito Hospital, Terceira Island, Azores).
Sara Souto Miranda has a bachelor's and master's degree in physiotherapy from the University of Aveiro, and a postgraduate qualification in adult respiratory physiotherapy from the same institution. In 2023 she completed her double doctorate in Rehabilitation Sciences/Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at the Universities of Aveiro and Maastricht (Netherlands) and is currently working as a technical-scientific advisor to the Studies and Planning Office (GEP) of the Order of Physiotherapists, and as a guest lecturer at the Piaget Institute in Vila Nova de Gaia. As a member of the Respiratory Research and Rehabilitation Laboratory at the University of Aveiro (Lab3R), she has carried out applied research in which she has assessed and treated patients with respiratory pathology, having taken part in 6 research projects. Throughout her career she has published 19 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals with an impact factor, 1 book chapter and more than 50 abstracts in conference proceedings. She was a research volunteer at the Ciro rehabilitation centre (Centre for expertise in chronic organ failure) in the Netherlands, and is currently a member of the Guideline Methodology Network of European Respiratory Society. She was honoured by European Lung Foundation e European Respiratory Society for carrying out patient-centred research, by the Directorate General for Higher Education with a merit grant for his master's degree, and by the Ciro Centre with a grant to support research abroad.