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Paul A. Gastañaduy, MD1, Susan B. Redd1, Amy Parker Fiebelkorn, MSN1, Jennifer S.

May is National Stroke Awareness Month. Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States (1). National Stroke Awareness Month aims to save lives by increasing awareness and educating the public about cardiovascular health.

The global tobacco epidemic contributed to 100 million deaths worldwide during the 20th century and continues to kill nearly 6 million persons each year, including approximately 600,000 from secondhand smoke. If current trends persist, an estimated 500 million persons alive today will die from the use of tobacco products. By 2030, tobacco use will result in approximately 8 million deaths worldwide each year.

Learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of stroke, and call 9-1-1 right away if you think someone might be having a stroke. The sooner you get treatment, the better your chances of recovery.

In 2012, approximately 21,000 passenger vehicle occupants died in motor vehicle crashes in the United States; 52% were unrestrained at the time of the crash (1). An additional estimated 2.6 million nonfatal injuries from motor vehicle crashes were treated in emergency departments (2).

May 19–25, 2014, marks the 10th annual Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week. This observance highlights ways in which swimmers, parents, pool owners and operators, beach managers, and public health can maximize the health benefits of water-based physical activity, while avoiding water-associated illness and injury.

Please note: An erratum has been published for this article. To view the erratum, please click here.

May is Healthy Vision Month, a national observance to promote prevention and early detection of eye diseases to reduce avoidable vision impairment, defined as the best-corrected visual acuity less than 20/40 in the better-seeing eye (1). CDC's Vision Health Initiative partners with the National Eye Institute's National Eye Health Education Program in encouraging everyone to make vision and eye health a priority.

The United States has one of the safest public drinking water supplies in the world (1). Tap water not only provides water for daily household activities such as drinking, bathing, and cooking, it also benefits the entire community by providing water to serve businesses, schools, and hospitals, and to promote overall health (2). May 4–10, 2014, is Drinking Water Week, an annual observance whose theme ("What Do You Know About H2O?") underscores the many ways in which all consumers can get to know their water (3).

In the United States, May is Hepatitis Awareness Month, and May 19 is National Hepatitis Testing Day. Although care and treatment can be life-saving, many of the estimated 800,000 to 1.4 million persons living with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the estimated 3 million persons living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are unaware of their infection and are not receiving necessary care and treatment (1).