World Health Day is a day when we celebrate global health awareness. This day is celebrated every year on April 7th, and this event has always been sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO). In fact, the WHO had held the first-ever World Health Assembly, in 1948, then the assembly decided to celebrate 7 April as World Health Day each year, which was effective from the year 1950. World Health Day is one of the eleven official global health campaigns, along with World No Tobacco Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Malaria Day, World Immunization Day, World AIDS Day, World Chagas Disease Day, World Patient Safety Day, World Hepatitis Day, World Blood Donor Day, and World Microbial Awareness Week.
History of World Health day.
As stated earlier World Health Day has been celebrated on 7 April every year, since the year 1950. This day is held to mark the World Health Organization’s (WHO) founding and it is also seen as an opportunity each year to draw people’s attention worldwide towards the subject, which is of major importance to global health. WHO has been studying the history of global health and their aim is to predict any sort of future diseases or pandemic which may fall before us, they work to create a healthier future for everyone, they have been working on it for 72 years and for the last 60 years had helped the world health community to really respond the challenges that we may face. This day has also been celebrated for 72 years and each year this day had a theme that WHO wanted to put focus on.
Awareness of World Health Day.
The World Health Organization wanted to spread awareness through World Health Day, so they had a theme for each year, they are as follows:
1991: Should Disaster Strike, be prepared.
1992: Heartbeat: A rhythm of Health.
1993: Handle life with care: Prevent violence and Negligence.
1994: Oral Health for a Healthy Life.
1995: Global Polio Eradication.
1996: Healthy Cities for a Better life.
1997: Emerging Infectious Diseases.
1998: Safe motherhood.
1999: Active aging makes the difference.
2000: Safe blood starts with me.
The theme was “Safe blood starts with me” because blood is donated all over the world and about eighteen million units of them are not tested which leads to the patient being infected by the same blood-transmitted disease, in most cases it is HIV. So, WHO put focus on this matter, so that people and doctors become more aware of it.
2001: Mental Health: stop exclusion, dare to care.
2002: Move for health.
On this day WHO put emphasis on how moving, exercising, jogging, walking, and taking stairs regularly can benefit our health. They wanted to spread awareness on the fact that physical exercise will keep our bodies healthier.
2003: Shape the future of life: healthy environments for children.
Due to the environmental hazard 25% of children suffer from chronic illnesses, such as asthma. WHO in 2003 wanted to focus on this issue, that the environment should be safer for the sake of the children.
2004: Road Safety.
This theme in the year 2004 was to spread awareness on road safety, many accidents take place everyday worldwide. They wanted to prevent any more accidents.
2005: Make every mother and child count.
2006: Working together for health.
This day was solely dedicated to all the health workers and also was devoted to the health worker crisis around the world. There was a crisis due to a long time of underinvestment on their education and salary.
2007: International health security.
2008: Protecting health from the adverse effects of climate change.
In 2008, they focussed on the need to protect the people from the adverse effect of climate change.
2009: Save lives, Make hospitals safe in emergencies.
This day was focussed on the fact that all the hospitals cannot really provide the facilities that an emergency patient needs, so this was about spreading awareness about the health facilities and the readiness of the health workers, to make sure that hospitals can provide immediately when a patient needs.
2010: Urbanization and health: make cities healthier.
On this day events were organized worldwide during the week starting from 7 April. The global goals of this campaign “1000 cities, 1000 lives” were.
1000 cities: to open their public spaces for health issues, it could be a park or even a school yard.
1000 people: to gather 1000 stories that inspire from the champions of health who have contributed to and have taken action concerning health issues.
2011: Antimicrobial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow.
This focussed on the antimicrobial resistance and its widespread, they wanted to bring the government’s attention towards stopping or taking precautions on this matter of highly resistant microorganisms.
2012: Good health adds life to years.
This was about aging and health. This day had proceeded with the slogan “Good health adds life to years”, they were focussing on the older people and wanted to create more and more health care systems for older people because with time life expectancy was going up in most countries.
2013: Healthy heart beat, Healthy blood pressure.
In 2013 the theme concern was about blood pressure and hypertension which is a slow killer, it is an important cause of premature death, it may cause stroke, kidney failure, etc
2014: Vector-borne diseases: small bite, big threat.
As we know, many small insects such as mosquitoes, sandflies, ticks, bugs and snails transmit a wide range of pathogens and parasites that cause different kinds of illness, for instance, mosquitoes cause dengue. So, in 2014 Who spread awareness on these diseases and how to prevent them.
2015: Food safety.
Unsafe food, or unhygienic food, causes 200 plus diseases and causes over 2 million deaths annually, and mostly children. So, in 2015 WHO put emphasis on this factor and promoted an improvement on food safety. They work with other organizations to protect and prevent people from these food borne diseases.
2016: Halt the rise: beat diabetes.
WHO put spotlight on diabetes in 2016’s World Health Day, as many countries have a rapid rate of growing diabetes patients. They put focus on how to prevent and control diabetes, a problem that is very controllable if taken care of.
2017: Depression: Let’s talk.
A large number of people die every year to suicide, depression is something that can happen to anyone at any age, it causes people to not function properly in their everyday life, at the very worst of this condition it leads to self infelcted harm, injury and suicide. This is something that can be treated if talked about more openly. In most cases people do not even address depression as something important. WHO wanted to put emphasis on depression in 2017’s World Health Day. because if we talk about it many lives may be saved.
2018: Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere.
In 2018, WHO promoted the fact that everyone deserves the same kind of treatment and facilities, and proper health care is everyone’s fundamental right. The slogan of the day was, “Health For All”. 2018 was also the 70th anniversary of the World Health Organization’s founding.
2019: Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere.
In 2019 it was also the same thing as the previous year, “Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere.” This was because they wanted to put emphasis on the idea that their ultimate goal is universal health coverage. They held an event over Facebook live and had shared information on primary health care and universal health coverage “statistics and facts”
2020: Support Nurses and Midwives.
This theme was based on the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic and how the nurses and doctors had played a very big role in it. It was to show support, respect, and admiration for the nurses, health care workers, and frontliners. People all around the world had spent the day appreciating and thanking them.
2021: Building a Fairer and Healthier World for Everyone.
In 2021, during COVID-19 everyone had struggled, some people had struggled more and some less. This World Health Day was focused on the fact that most families were not able to get the proper treatment or facilities due to their financial conditions, WHO wanted to bring the world leaders’ attention to this matter because everyone deserves equal treatment when it concerns someone’s health.
These were the health awareness that they focussed on so far till last year. And this year 2022, they are focussing on “Our planet, our health”
Aim Of Celebration 2022.
So, this year on April 7, 2022, the theme of World Health Day is going to be “Our Planet, Our Health.” This time the World Health Organization (WHO) will focus the world’s attention on the issues that our planet needs healing, that we need to keep our planet healthy, and they want to start a movement that focuses society’s attention on our well-being. WHO believes that 13 million deaths around the world are caused by environmental issues, which are completely avoidable. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has shown us where we lack, it has revealed the inequities of our world, it has shown us our weak points. Therefore, WHO wants to put emphasis on the things that we must do for our planet so that our environment is a safe place to be so that no one ever again dies due to an avoidable environmental hazard. WHO wants to create a sustainable well-being society, because a well-being society or economy has ecological sustainability, equity, and human well-being, as its goal.
World Health Day and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh also celebrates and hosts World Health Day each year on 7 April. The representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Bangladesh is, Dr. Banrdan Jung Rana. WHO has been a key partner to the Bangladesh government since 1972. The organization has helped and supported in strengthening our country’s public health system with development and improvement, since then. So, Bangladesh also celebrates 7th April as World Health Day as the other countries do, and puts focus on the themes set by the World Health Organization (WHO) each year. Talk shows, seminars, and even Facebook live are hosted on that day, so that people are aware of the world’s health concerns.
Sasthya seba also celebrates this World Health Day. Sasthya seba has undertaken various programs centering on this day. For example, to provide ambulance service all over Bangladesh in a very short time, to ensure Doctor appointments at home for the convenience of patients. Something more, including medical home services for dying patients.
Sasthya Seba is an online healthcare platform that helps to connect patients with doctors, hospitals, and clinics. The company’s featured services are doctor appointments, ambulance services, providing hospital information & diagnostics information, Doorstep Healthcare services, and Telemedicine. In short, Sasthya Seba provides emergency healthcare services. Today Sasthya Seba Limited is also celebrating World Health Day 2022.
Conclusion.
So, to sum it all up, every year on 7 April, by celebrating World Health Day, WHO’s main goal is to focus on important health-related issues and concerns. And the whole world’s leaders and government systems are a part of it, to minimize or decrease the upcoming and to minimize these health hazards which are completely avoidable by being just a little careful. They also use these slogans or themes to make people cautious about the diseases which are lingering around us, so that the people around the world can breathe and live freely. The hope is to make this world a healthier place someday.