World Health Day
Encyclopedia
World Health Day is celebrated every year on 7 April, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization
(WHO).
In 1948, the World Health Organization held the First World Health Assembly
. The Assembly decided to celebrate 7 April of each year, with effect from 1950, as the World Health Day. The World Health Day is held to mark WHO's founding, and is seen as an opportunity by the organization to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health
each year. The WHO organizes international, regional and local events on the Day related to a particular theme. Resources provided continue beyond 7 April, that is, the designated day for celebrating the World Health Day.
World Health Day is acknowledged by various governments and non-governmental organizations with interests in public health
isssues, who also organize activities and highlight their support in media reports, such as through press releases issued in recent years by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
and the Global Health Council
.
s.
When infection
s caused by resistant microorganisms fail to respond to standard treatments, including antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines - also known as drug resistance - this may result in prolonged illness and greater risk of death. For World Health Day 2011, WHO called for intensified global commitment to safeguard antimicrobial medicines for future generations.
On World Health Day 2011, the WHO introduced a six-point policy package to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance:
and the readiness of health workers who treat those affected by emergencies. Health centres and staff are critical lifelines for vulnerable people in disasters - treating injuries
, preventing illnesses and caring for people's health needs. Often, already fragile health systems are unable to keep functioning through a disaster, with immediate and future public health consequences.
For this year's World Health Day campaign, WHO and international partners underscored the importance of investing in health infrastructure that can withstand hazards and serve people in immediate need, and urged health facilities to implement systems to respond to internal emergencies, such as fires, and ensure the continuity of care.
and establish links between climate change and health and other development areas such as environment, food, energy, transport.
The theme “protecting health from climate change” put health at the centre of the global dialogue about climate change. WHO selected this theme in recognition that climate change is posing ever growing threats to global public health security.
crisis, or chronic shortages of health workers around the world due to decades of underinvestment in their education, training, salaries, working environment and management. The day was also meant to celebrate individual health workers
- the people who provide health care to those who need it, in other words those at the heart of health system
s.
The Day also marked the launch of the WHO's World Health Report 2006
, which focused on the same theme. The report contained an assessment of the current crisis in the global health workforce, revealing an estimated shortage of almost 4.3 million physicians, midwives, nurses and other health care provider
s worldwide, and further proposed a series of actions for countries and the international community to tackle it.
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO).
In 1948, the World Health Organization held the First World Health Assembly
World Health Assembly
The World Health Assembly is the forum through which the World Health Organization is governed by its 194 member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states....
. The Assembly decided to celebrate 7 April of each year, with effect from 1950, as the World Health Day. The World Health Day is held to mark WHO's founding, and is seen as an opportunity by the organization to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health
Global health
Global health is the health of populations in a global context and transcends the perspectives and concerns of individual nations. Health problems that transcend national borders or have a global political and economic impact, are often emphasized...
each year. The WHO organizes international, regional and local events on the Day related to a particular theme. Resources provided continue beyond 7 April, that is, the designated day for celebrating the World Health Day.
World Health Day is acknowledged by various governments and non-governmental organizations with interests in public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
isssues, who also organize activities and highlight their support in media reports, such as through press releases issued in recent years by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
and the Global Health Council
Global Health Council
The Global Health Council is a United States-based non-profit networking organizing linking "several hundred health non-governmental organizations around the world to share knowledge and resources, build partnerships and together become stronger advocates for health"...
.
Themes of World Health Days
- 2011: Anti-microbial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow
- 2010: Urbanisation and health: make cities healthierHealthy cityHealthy city is a term used in public health and urban design to stress the impact of policy on human health. Its modern form derives from a World Health Organization initiative on Healthy Cities and Villages in 1986, but has a history dating back to the mid 19th century...
- 2009: Save lives, Make HospitalHospitalA hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s Safe in Emergencies - 2008: Protecting health from the adverse effects of climate changeClimate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
- 2007: International health security
- 2006: Working together for health
- 2005: Make every mother and child count
- 2004: Road safety
- 2003: Shape the Future of Life: Healthy Environments for Children
- 2002: Move for Health
- 2001: Mental HealthMental healthMental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
: Stop Exclusion, Dare to Care - 2000: Safe BloodBloodBlood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
Start with Me - 1999: Active Aging Makes the Difference
- 1998: Safe Motherhood
- 1997: Emerging Infectious DiseaseInfectious diseaseInfectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
s - 1996: Healthy CitiesHealthy cityHealthy city is a term used in public health and urban design to stress the impact of policy on human health. Its modern form derives from a World Health Organization initiative on Healthy Cities and Villages in 1986, but has a history dating back to the mid 19th century...
for Better Life - 1995: Global Polio Eradication
World Health Day 2011
The theme of World Health Day 2011, marked on 7 April 2011, was "Antimicrobial resistance and its global spread" and focused on the need for governments and stakeholders to implement the policies and practices needed to prevent and counter the emergence of highly resistant microorganismMicroorganism
A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...
s.
When infection
Infection
An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
s caused by resistant microorganisms fail to respond to standard treatments, including antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines - also known as drug resistance - this may result in prolonged illness and greater risk of death. For World Health Day 2011, WHO called for intensified global commitment to safeguard antimicrobial medicines for future generations.
On World Health Day 2011, the WHO introduced a six-point policy package to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance:
- Commit to a comprehensive, financed national plan with accountability and civil society engagement.
- Strengthen surveillance and laboratory capacity.
- Ensure uninterrupted access to essential medicines of assured quality.
- Regulate and promote rational use of medicines, including in animal husbandry, and ensure proper patient care; reduce use of antimicrobials in food-producing animals.
- Enhance infection prevention and control.
- Foster innovations and research and development for new tools.
2010: 1000 Cities, 1000 Lives
With the campaign "1000 cities, 1000 lives", events were organized worldwide during the week starting 7 April 2010. The global goals of the campaign were:- 1000 cities: to open up public spaces to health, whether it be activities in parks, town hall meetings, clean-up campaigns, or closing off portions of streets to motorized vehicles.
- 1000 lives: to collect 1000 stories of urban health champions who have taken action and had a significant impact on health in their cities.
2009: Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies
World Health Day 2009 focused on the safety of health facilitiesHealth care provider
A health care provider is an individual or an institution that provides preventive, curative, promotional or rehabilitative health care services in a systematic way to individuals, families or communities....
and the readiness of health workers who treat those affected by emergencies. Health centres and staff are critical lifelines for vulnerable people in disasters - treating injuries
Trauma (medicine)
Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
, preventing illnesses and caring for people's health needs. Often, already fragile health systems are unable to keep functioning through a disaster, with immediate and future public health consequences.
For this year's World Health Day campaign, WHO and international partners underscored the importance of investing in health infrastructure that can withstand hazards and serve people in immediate need, and urged health facilities to implement systems to respond to internal emergencies, such as fires, and ensure the continuity of care.
2008: Protecting health from the adverse effects of climate change
In 2008, World Health Day focused on the need to protect health from the adverse effects of climate changeClimate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
and establish links between climate change and health and other development areas such as environment, food, energy, transport.
The theme “protecting health from climate change” put health at the centre of the global dialogue about climate change. WHO selected this theme in recognition that climate change is posing ever growing threats to global public health security.
2007: Invest in health, build a safer future
Key messages for World Health Day 2007:- Threats to health know no borders.
- Invest in health, build a safer future.
- Health leads to security; insecurity leads to poor health.
- Preparedness and quick response improve international health security.
- The World Health Organization is making the world more secure.
2006: Working together for health
In 2006, World Health Day was devoted to the health workforceHealth Human Resources
Health human resources — also known as “human resources for health” or “health workforce” — is defined as “all people engaged in actions whose primary intent is to enhance health”, according to the World Health Organization's World Health Report 2006. Human resources for health are identified as...
crisis, or chronic shortages of health workers around the world due to decades of underinvestment in their education, training, salaries, working environment and management. The day was also meant to celebrate individual health workers
Health care provider
A health care provider is an individual or an institution that provides preventive, curative, promotional or rehabilitative health care services in a systematic way to individuals, families or communities....
- the people who provide health care to those who need it, in other words those at the heart of health system
Health system
A health system can be defined as the structured and interrelated set of all actors and institutions contributing to health improvement. The health system boundaries could then be referred to the concept of health action, which is "any set of activities whose primary intent is to improve or...
s.
The Day also marked the launch of the WHO's World Health Report 2006
World Health Report
The World Health Report is a series of reports produced regularly by the World Health Organization . First published in 1995, the World Health Report is WHO's leading publication...
, which focused on the same theme. The report contained an assessment of the current crisis in the global health workforce, revealing an estimated shortage of almost 4.3 million physicians, midwives, nurses and other health care provider
Health care provider
A health care provider is an individual or an institution that provides preventive, curative, promotional or rehabilitative health care services in a systematic way to individuals, families or communities....
s worldwide, and further proposed a series of actions for countries and the international community to tackle it.