The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) National Capital Chapter (NCC) announced this month that its Excellence in Communication Award goes to global the World Thrombosis Day campaign, a global initiative organized by International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostatis (ITSH).
Thrombosis – the formation of a blood clot – is the one disorder that causes the world’s top three cardiovascular killers: heart attack, stroke and venous thromboembolism (VTE).
In fact, one in four people worldwide die of conditions related to thrombosis. It is a startling reality that in the US and EU, thrombosis-related conditions kill more people than AIDS, breast cancer, prostate cancer and motor vehicle crashes combined. Blood clots also rapidly emerged as a serious threat to hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Given all this, World Thrombosis Day (WTD), seeks to increase awareness of thrombosis, including its causes, risk factors, signs/symptoms and evidence-based prevention and treatment.
In the program PRSA-NCC honored, WTD adopted a strategy to amplify awareness of blood clots through strategic, international media outreach.
As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, it became clear there was a connection between COVID and thrombosis. As a result, the campaign pivoted to prioritize making WTD’s world-class medical experts available to media around the world to explain the correlations and facilitate more rapid intervention when patients arrived at emergency rooms.
Together with medical experts from its Steering Committee and membership, WTD mobilized a global team in key regions including the U.S. and U.K., as well as across Latin American, Asia and Africa. WTD subject matter experts made themselves available for interviews, bylines, background briefings and online engagement to raise awareness and offer insights on emerging health concerns associated with DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and VTE (venous thromboembolism).
Throughout the year, communication through traditional and online channels such as Reddit resulted in more than 4.7 billion global impressions.
Stanton is honored to support WTD as a member of its global team. The collaborative effort generated important visibility during a time when WTD’s expertise was greatly needed.
For more information, visit: https://www.worldthrombosisday.org
