World Health Day - April 7

Since its inception, health issues and access to healthcare have been greatly campaigned for by people all over the world on World Health Day. Each theme is highlighted in schools, seminars, workshops, and discussion forums. The day is all about creating awareness for the health issues of the needy and the less fortunate in poor regions around the world, as well as reminding us to be grateful for our health and to better take care of ourselves. 

Each year, the World Health Organization highlights a special theme in the wellness and medical world. Ranging from mental health to insurance and everything in between, World Health Day sets the tone for what’s to come on the world stage. Over the past 50 years this has brought to light important health issues such as mental health, maternal and child care, and climate change. The celebration is marked by activities that extend beyond the day itself and serve as an opportunity to focus worldwide attention on these important aspects of global health.

This year’s World Health Day shifts global attention to urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on wellbeing.

The WHO  estimates that more than 13 million deaths around the world each year are due to avoidable environmental causes. This includes the climate crisis which is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. 

The climate crisis is also a health crisis.

History of World Health Day

To talk about World Health Day, we need to talk about the creation of the World Health Organization as a whole. In December 1945, officials of Brazil and China proposed the creation of an international health organization, that is all-encompassing and absolutely independent from any government powers.

Half a year later, in New York, in July 1946, the constitution of the World Health Organization was approved. Said constitution entered into force on April 7, 1948, as 61 countries signed an agreement for the inception of the NGO.

As one of the first official acts of WHO, they created the celebration of World Health Day. It was first observed on July 22, 1949, but the date was later changed to April 7, the establishment of WHO, to encourage student participation.

Since 1950, the Worth Health Day uses a different theme and theme each year selected by the current WHO Director-General, based on the suggestions of the member governments and staff.

World Health Day provides a global opportunity to focus attention on important public health issues that affect the international community. On the occasion of World Health Day, promotional programs are launched that continue for a long time after April 7.

World Health Day 2020 will shine a light on the vital role played by nurses and midwives in providing health care around the world, where advocacy events will be held around the world, including the launch of the first-ever State of the World’s Nursing Report, which will provide planning to optimize the contributions of the nursery workforce, with a similar report on the Midwifery workforce to be done in 2021.

Talking Points for World Health Day 2022

1. Well-being societies are healthy societies.
   
   
2. The climate crisis is a health crisis.
   1. Burning fossil fuels causes air pollution, which kills 13 people every minute due to lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke.
   2. Over 90% of people breathe unhealthy air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. Air pollution impacts our health and the health of the planet.
   3. Nine out of 10 people breathe polluted air, which kills 7 million people every year.
   4. Frequent floods and extreme rainfall resulting from climate change cause drownings, injuries, heart attacks, trauma, and infectious diseases.
   5. Frequent droughts and wildfires caused by climate change result in suffocation, burns, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, trauma, and mental health problems.
   6. Rising temperatures due to climate change cause headaches, confusion, tiredness, and vomiting. Extreme heat can cause organ failure and even death.
      
      3. Climate change is having stronger and longer-lasting impacts on people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being.
      
      4. The climate crisis is driving deadly heatwaves, floods, malnutrition, and infectious diseases. Dengue cases reported to WHO have increased over 8-fold in the last 20 years, to over 5 million cases annually. Climate change may put more than 2 billion additional people at risk of dengue infection.
      
      5. Three billion people cannot afford a healthy diet, while our agriculture and food systems drive biodiversity loss, contribute 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and account for 80% of freshwater consumption.
      
      6. Polluted water and inadequate sanitation kill 829 000 people from diarrhoeal disease every year.
      
      7. Two billion people globally lack safe drinking water. Protect water sources by preventing sewage, waste, and pollutants from entering our lakes, rivers, and groundwater.
      
      8. Globally, 3.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation, causing human waste to return to the environment untreated, making people sick and degrading ecosystems.
      
      9. About 1.8 billion people use healthcare facilities that lack basic water services, and 800 million use facilities with no toilets.
      a. Globally, 1 in 4 healthcare facilities lacks basic water services.
      b. One in 3 lacks what is needed to clean hands at the point of care.
      c. One in 10 has no sanitation services.
      d. One in 3 lacks a system to segregate waste.
      
      10. Planet Earth is another victim of the tobacco epidemic. Keep our lungs and the environment free from tobacco, and push the tobacco industry to clean up its pollution!
      a. Manufacturing, marketing, and consumption of tobacco cause widespread environmental degradation.
      b. Cigarette butts are the most abundant form of plastic waste in the world, resulting in 767 000 kilograms of toxic trash each year – the equivalent in weight to 27 875 humpback whales.
      c. Six hundred million trees are chopped down to make 6 trillion cigarettes every year.
      d. Four and a half trillion cigarettes litter our cities, parks, beaches, and waterways, polluting both land and water.
      
      11. Unsafely managed healthcare waste poses many risks to health workers and the nearby community, including the risk of needlestick injuries, the transmission of infectious diseases (such as hepatitis B and C), and inhalation of carcinogenic dioxins and furans from burning plastic healthcare waste.
      
      12. Keep fossil fuels in the ground for a healthy planet and a healthy me.
      
      13. Stop killing me, stop killing my planet.
      
      14. Antibiotics and other antimicrobials are given to humans, animals, and plants are entering the environment and our drinking water as waste and sewage, spreading drug-resistant organisms and antibiotic resistance. This is causing a rise in the emergence of so-called superbugs that are resistant to several types of antimicrobial drugs. Stop antibiotic waste from polluting the environment.
      
      15. Protect our planet and our health. There is no Planet B.
      a. Our planet, our health: clean our air, water, and food.
      b. Our planet, our health: reimagine our economy, society, and health.

While the COVID-19 pandemic showed us the healing power of science, it also highlighted the inequities in our world. The pandemic has revealed weaknesses in all areas of society and underlined the urgency of creating sustainable well-being societies committed to achieving equitable health now and for future generations without breaching ecological limits. The present design of the economy leads to inequitable distribution of income, wealth, and power, with too many people still living in poverty and instability. A well-being economy has human well-being, equity, and ecological sustainability as its goals. These goals are translated into long-term investments, well-being budgets, social protection, and legal and fiscal strategies. Breaking these cycles of destruction for the planet and human health requires legislative action, corporate reform, and individuals to be supported and incentivized to make healthy choices.    

Our political, social, and commercial decisions are driving the climate and health crisis. Over 90% of people breathe unhealthy air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. A heating world is seeing mosquitos spread diseases farther and faster than ever before. Extreme weather events, land degradation, and water scarcity are displacing people and affecting their health. Pollution and plastics are found at the bottom of our deepest oceans, the highest mountains, and have made their way into our food chain. Systems that produce highly processed, unhealthy foods and beverages are driving a wave of obesity, increasing cancer and heart disease while generating a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Sources:

https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2022

https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day