February 29, 2016 – NATIONAL LEAP DAY – RARE DISEASE DAY

 For a day that is celebrated only once every 4 years on February 29th (with some mathematical exceptions we’ll go over later) it sure seems to have a lot going on around it. Leap year has devious explorers, beloved saints, partying boarder towns and proposal popping Irish ladies. And let’s not forget all the birthdays babies. They do have some making up to do on the celebrating, you know! Since the beginning of time, man has been improving the way we keep it. That applies to calendars as well. Early Egyptians had a leap year in their calendar. The early Roman calendar had entire leap month from time to time to keep the days in line with the astronomical year. It was Julius Casaer and astronomer Sosigenes who revamped the Roman calendar giving it 12 months with equally (almost) distributed days and adding a leap day every 4 years. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar once again. Because the Earth revolves around the sun once every 365.2421 days, one leap day every 4 years is just slightly too much. Instead of shortening the leap day, the Gregorian calendar is designed such that leap days only happen every 4 years except years evenly divisible by 100 but not 400. There was not a leap day in 1900 and there will not be one in 2100. So a baby born on February 29, 2096 will be in the 3rd grade on his 1st birthday! And even this adjustment doesn’t keep the days perfectly aligned with the seasons. Those humans who are still around in 10,000 years will have to address those issues. It’s truly not a leap day concern.

For more information, visit the National Day Calendar page for National Leap Day.

RARE DISEASE DAY USA

Rare Disease Day is observed the last day in February.
A rare disease is defined differently in different parts of the world. In Europe a rare disease is one that affects fewer than one in 2,000 people while in the United States the standard is 1 in 200,000. While a majority of the conditions are genetic in origin, still others are the result of infections, environmental or degenerative factors.
Often people with rare diseases face a multi faceted uphill battle; with few suffers, there are fewer voices to bring awareness to their needs for research, medical and financial support or their physical,social and often times mental burdens.
Rare Disease Day brings those voices together to help lift some of those burdens and bring awareness to light.
HOW TO OBSERVE
The goal of Rare Disease Day is to raise awareness among the general public and decision makers about rare diseases and the impact that they have on patients’ lives. Use #RareDiseaseDayUSA to post on social media.
HISTORY
First observed in Europe in 2008, Rare Disease Day was established by Eurordis, (the European Rare Disease Organization).  In 2009, NORD was asked by EURORDIS  to sponsor Rare Disease Day in the United States.  NORD accepted and 2014 celebrates the 6th annual RARE DISEASE DAY USA.
For more information see: http://rarediseaseday.us/
and
http://www.rarediseaseday.org/ 
DATES
February 28, 2015
February 29, 2016
February 28, 2017
February 28, 2018
February 28, 2019