World Health Day 7th April : Health for all

Dr Kshetrimayum Kala Singh *

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of Gold and Silver - Mahatama Gandhi
Happiness is the highest form of Health - Dalai Lama

The World Health Day is celebrated by the people all across the world every year on 7th of April under the leadership of World Health Organisation to draw the mass people’s attention towards the importance of global health.

A proposal was put forward by Brazil and China for creation of an organization to take health related issues all over the world. The proposal presented in 1945 stated this body should be totally independent from any Government powers and focuses equally on health related issues of whole world.

In 1946, establishment of WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO) was approved in New York. World Health Assembly was held 1st time in the year 1948 in Geneva by the WHO where it was decided to celebrate the World Health Day annually on 7th April. It was 1st celebrated worldwide in the year 1950 as the World Health Day.

It is an annual event being celebrated for years to raise the common public awareness towards the health issues and concerns. A particular theme is chosen to run the celebration and to take care of the health for whole year.

The theme for this year is “HEALTH FOR ALL” Global Polio Eradication was also one of the special theme of the year 1995 of World Health Day. From then, most of the countries have become free of the fatal diseases whereas in other parts of the world it’s awareness level has increased.

Some of the objectives of why world health day is being celebrated yearly are listed below:
o To increase the public awareness of various causes and prevention of high blood pressure.
o To provide detail knowledge of getting prevented from various diseases and their complications.
o To encourage most vulnerable group of people to frequently check their blood pressure and follow medications from the professionals.
o To promote self care among people.
o To motivate the worldwide health authorities to make their own efforts in creating the healthy environments in their country.
o To protect families living in the disease vulnerable areas.
o To teach travelers and send them a messages about how to get protect from the vector-borne diseases while travelling.

World Health Day celebration focuses on increasing the life expectancy by adding good health to the lives of people and promoting healthier living habits. Youths of the new era are also targeted by this event to prevent and make the world healthy and free from AIDS and HIV.

Diseases spreading vectors like mosquitoes (malaria, dengue, filarial, chikungunya, yellow eye fever and etc.), ticks, bugs, sand flies, snails and etc. are also spotlighted by the WHO to make the world free from a wide range of disease caused by parasites and pathogens. It provides better prevention and cure from the vector-borne disease spread by vectors and travelers from one country to other. WHO supports various health authorities on global basis to make their own efforts for the public health problem to enhance better life without any diseases.

World Health Day is celebrated worldwide by the Government, non-Government, NGOs including various health organizations at many places by organizing programmes relating to the public health issues and awareness. Participated organizations highlight their activities and supports through the media reports by means of press releases, news and etc.

Health authorities from different country take part in the celebration with their pledges in order to support on the health issues worldwide. This year’s World Health Day will shine a light on Nurses and Midwives, the on the call, restless workforce that revolutionized the healthcare industry as we know it today.

World Health Day targets all the health issues on global basis for which several programs are organized yearly by the WHO and other related health organizations at various places like schools, colleges and other crowd places. It is celebrated to remember the establishment of the World Health Organization as well as draw the attention of people towards the major health issues in the world.

WHO is a vast health organization working under UN for addressing the health issues on a global basis. Since its establishment it has addressed serious health issues including chickenpox, polio, smallpox, TB, leprosy and etc from various developing countries. It has played a significant role aiming to make the world a healthy world. It has all the statistic about global health reports.

The World Health Organization has been involved in mobilizing many health efforts the world over. Describing what medicines are essential for public health, and which diseases to give a particular focus to. The movement to eradicate smallpox started in 1958, initiated by pressure from Viktor Zhdanov, the Deputy Minister of Health for the then USSR. In 1979 the WHO declared that smallpox had in fact been eradicated, making it the first disease in history to be eliminated by the dedicated efforts of humans.

Significance of World Health Day 2023

The main aim behind observing this special day is to create awareness among people about the value of good health. Not only physical, but taking care of mental and emotional health of a person is equally important and to draw people's attention towards complete well-being, World Health Day is celebrated across the world.

Creating awareness regarding the health issues in people of poor regions around the world is also a major goal behind celebration of World Health Day.

World Health Day is one of 11 official global health campaigns run by the World Health Organization, along with World Hepatitis Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Chagas Disease Day, World Patient Safety Day, World Immunization Week, World No Tobacco Day, World AIDS Day, World Malaria Day, World Blood Donor Day and World Antimicrobial Awareness Week.

Mr. Erasmus, the 16th century Dutch philosopher said that prevention is better than cure. Preventive methods help us in saving from deadly and fatal diseases which can’t’ be cured.