National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (NEDAW) is an annual campaign held in late February through early March that aims to educate the public about eating disorders, reduce stigma, and connect people with screening tools and support. It was first launched in 1984 in Columbus, Ohio, by the National Anorexic Aid Society, making it one of the longest-running mental health awareness campaigns in the United States. In 2026, the week runs from February 23 through March 1.
How the Week Got Started
The origins trace back to 1984, when the National Anorexic Aid Society organized the first Eating Disorders Awareness Week to coincide with its third national conference in Columbus, Ohio. Three years later, in 1987, the campaign expanded into a formal national effort. By 2024, the week had reached its 39th year, and it has received official recognition at the highest levels of government. President Biden, for example, issued a presidential proclamation designating February 26 through March 3, 2024, as National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
The campaign is now coordinated by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), which provides free and low-cost resources including an online screening tool, treatment directories, and support groups throughout the year, with heightened visibility during the awareness week.
What Happens During the Week
NEDAW is built around a different theme each year. The 2026 theme is “Every BODY Belongs,” and recent themes have focused on topics like eating disorder prevention across the lifespan. The 2026 theme from the Office on Women’s Health, “Health at Every Age,” emphasizes prevention, early identification, and recovery as lifelong concerns, not just issues for teenagers.
During the week, schools, universities, treatment centers, and community organizations host events ranging from educational panels to social media campaigns. NEDA encourages participants to share personal stories, use hashtags like #NEDAW and #EDAW, and post shareable graphics to spark conversations. The week is designed to involve everyone touched by eating disorders: people with lived experience, families, friends, educators, coaches, and healthcare professionals.
Why the Week Matters
Eating disorders affect an estimated 30 million Americans across all ages, body sizes, races, genders, and backgrounds. That number is far higher than most people assume, partly because eating disorders are still stereotyped as something that only affects young, thin, white women. In reality, research shows that among older adults (ages 40 to 80), eating disorders meeting clinical criteria affect 2% to 7% of women and up to 1% of men. The menopausal transition in midlife can trigger disordered eating just as puberty does during adolescence.
One especially concerning trend: the rate of anorexia nervosa among girls aged 10 to 14 has climbed from 9 to 39 per 100,000 per year over the past four decades, suggesting the age of onset is shifting younger. Meanwhile, bulimia nervosa rates have dropped significantly since the 1980s, from roughly 9 to 3 per 100,000 people per year. These shifting patterns make public awareness campaigns more important, not less, because the face of eating disorders keeps changing.
Screening and Early Detection
A core part of the awareness week is encouraging people to take a free online screening. NEDA’s screening tool is based on the Stanford-Washington University Eating Disorder Screen, a brief questionnaire that asks about eating behaviors, body image concerns, and how much these issues interfere with daily life. Based on your responses, the tool can flag whether you may be at risk for one of several conditions, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, or a less commonly recognized pattern that still warrants attention.
The screening doesn’t diagnose anything on its own. It’s a starting point, designed to help people recognize patterns they might otherwise dismiss or normalize. Research on the tool’s rollout found that it reached large numbers of people who had never been evaluated, highlighting a significant gap between how many people struggle and how many actually receive care.
Reaching Underrepresented Communities
One of the more meaningful efforts within the awareness campaign is NEDA’s Marginalized Voices Project, which directly challenges the narrow stereotype of who gets eating disorders. The project features stories from people across a range of racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities, including queer and nonbinary individuals whose experiences with body image and disordered eating are rarely represented in mainstream conversations.
The initiative also pushes for culturally sensitive treatment. Eating disorders show up differently across communities, and people from marginalized backgrounds often face additional barriers to getting help, from providers who don’t recognize their symptoms to insurance systems that make care inaccessible. The awareness week serves as a concentrated push to make these realities visible and to reinforce that everyone’s experience is equally deserving of care.
How to Participate
You don’t need to be a healthcare professional or an organization to take part. NEDA provides downloadable graphics, suggested social media captions, and guides for hosting events at schools or workplaces. Sharing a personal story, reposting educational content, or simply having a conversation with someone you’re concerned about are all ways the week is designed to work at the individual level. You can reach NEDA directly at [email protected] for resources or to become an official NEDAW collaborator.